The Search
by HopeLiterature
Summary: Hadley Reyes left Amity Park over a year and a half ago. She's heard rumors that more of her kind exist in New York City, along with what remains of her family. She'll do anything to find them, but there's someone that will do anything to find her. (Sequel to 'The Beacon')
1. Memories

1\. "Memories"

Hadley Reyes was exhausted. She had been driving for hours since her last fuel stop. Her eyelids were heavy and her legs were numbing. She was white-knuckled gripping the steering wheel to keep from drifting into the other lanes on the freeway. The last year and a half had been hellish. She'd come to terms with leaving Amity Park behind. It broke what was left of her little stone heart, and she couldn't deny it anymore. After a few days of steady driving to get out of range of a certain angry phantom, she'd pulled off down a gravel road and cried searing tears of anger and hurt. She'd screamed and beat her poor, worn steering wheel until she was gasping for air.

It helped a little, and she managed to get back on the road long enough to find a hotel. She had been heading west then, all the way to the coast. She had to. It was time, and she couldn't put it off any longer. She was going home.

Of course, it wasn't home any longer. Not with her dear friends gone. It hurt to think of them, but they were the reason she returned.

Doctor Robert Sucidem was the town's only family doctor. He had been a sorcerer, and the only one that believed the ramblings of a six-year-old who had just lost her entire family. He had taken her into his home and raised her for the nine years that followed. He and his wife, Helen, had taught her of all the things that existed under the nose of humanity. Helen was also a healer. She worked as a nurse in the doctor's facility, and made medicines from herbs and other things she'd find in nature. If Hadley had been older, she might've thought it was ridiculous, but her young mind took to magic like a duck to water.

When she was ten, Hadley asked the doctor and his wife to help her become strong enough to defeat the dark creatures that haunted the human world. She wanted to protect others from experiencing the pain she felt when her whole world came crashing down.

Robert and Helen agreed, and flooded her with knowledge. She trained hard and became stronger every day. But she knew it wasn't enough.

"Is it possible to be more than I am?" she had asked them. "I can't beat these things as a human. I'm too vulnerable."

"There is a way to make you something more, of course," the Doctor replied kindly. "But there is always a price to being changed."

"What did you have in mind, dear?" Helen's soft voice filled the small garage.

Hadley looked around the front yard of the house through the large, open garage door. Redwoods towered over them, reaching into the night sky. Crickets sang in the cool darkness. The gate creaked in the breeze as one of the neighborhood's stray cats squeezed by it, headed to Helen for dinner. The post's gargoyles loomed in the night, facing outward as if to challenge intruders.

Hadley recalled the legend she read about gargoyles. As a child, they'd frightened her; their grotesque appearance serving its purpose. Helen told her Gargoyles were protectors. They watched over the house at night while the humans slept to protect them from evil.

That's how Hadley chose. She'd turned back to Helen and Robert, "A gargoyle."

That was all it took. They went to work to prepare a ritual that Hadley couldn't remember. She woke up a few days later with the marking of dark wings on her back.

People had looked down on her for it, thinking her to be barely in her teen years with a massive tattoo of demonic wings covering her back. It hurt her at first, but she became calloused to that eventually.

She enjoyed them immensely. At sundown, she trained in her new body. She'd defeated many dark creatures that threatened the town in her remaining years.

Until that horrible night.

Hadley heard the screams from her training in the forest. It was a horrible wail that sent waves of fear through her body. She flew home immediately, pumping her large wings with everything she had.

Something was in the house. The gargoyles that sat atop each post of the wall were missing, and parts of a few of them littered the front lawn. Hadley had rushed into the house through the ruined door, not caring that its splinters poked into her bare toes.

A beast was in there. In that moment, her mind wasn't clear enough to recognize it. The body of the doctor was limp in the beast's long fingers, drenched with blood and torn open at the abdomen.

Fear and disgust rose at the back of Hadley's throat in the form of bile. The beast was over seven feet tall, grey-skinned, and hauntingly slim. It hunched over the doctor's body, devouring it as Hadley devoured corn on the cob. Horrifyingly morbid smacking noises pierced the air, and bits of intestine and muscle fell from the creature's mouth. Stains of a red so deep it looked black colored the carpet below it, dripping over the remains of the gargoyles.

Hadley choked on her own gag reflex, making a noise that pulled the creature away from its meal.

Beady black eyes met Hadley's wide blue stare. Its face was coated in blood and chunks of muscle, and its long, jagged teeth were exposed. The lips had rotted away, as did the nose and eyelids. It was strangely humanoid, yet more beastly than anything Hadley had ever seen. It definitely wasn't an ordinary animal.

It wailed at her and tossed the minimalistic remains of the doctor at another heap of remains that Hadley feared was Helen.

Anger swallowed her fear and she screamed back at it, baring her own fangs. Tears streaked down her cheeks as she dove at it. She tore it apart with her fingers, not feeling its clawed nails dig at the stone that was once her flesh.

Hadley shook off the memory as she pulled into a dingy motel. She parked in front of the office and rubbed her face. She was only a few hours away from her destination, but she knew she couldn't possibly drive anymore.

She checked in and lugged her things into the small, grey room. A shower did little for her, but flopping down on the hard mattress felt like heaven.

Sleep came easily, but so did her nightmares.


	2. Journey West

2\. "Journey West"

Hadley's memories haunted her as she slept. Surely she would be used to seeing those horrible images by this time, but it always seemed to affect her one way or another.

She had torn the beast to pieces in her anger. That should've made her feel better, but it didn't. She carried the anger with her. And the scars. That demented bastard reopened the jagged lines that had left only a discoloration on her face. They never  
healed right after that. They were swollen-looking and pink, as if they healed recently. But with the fire that took the house as she fought the beast, she was lucky to escape with her life.

Hadley wasn't sure how it started, but it did. That's how the rest of the town knew about it. The obituary for the doctor and his wife claimed a house fire took their lives. The firefighters had to drag Hadley out of the house before it collapsed. She'd  
stayed to watch the beast… the Wendigo… burn to ashes. The firefighters rushed back to pull the other two from the house, but it collapsed before they could return. Hadley couldn't tell them how the fire started. They assumed she was unconscious from  
the smoke, and didn't stoop so low as to treat her as a suspect in an arson.

The townspeople weren't so courteous.

As if she wasn't broken enough; she'd lost her family for a second time. She was fifteen years old and completely alone in the world. All she had left in her life was her father's blazer and some miscellaneous possessions that escaped the blaze unharmed.

Hadley had been the last one to leave the funeral. She spread ash in the field where their house used to be. She'd even carved their names into a boulder in their backyard using her claws.

To her surprise, a large tree sprouted overnight. It stood right beside the boulder, with a strange pattern grown into the bark. The same pattern inked her skin when she touched it.

They had stayed behind for her. Their souls embedded in the flesh of the large, willow-like tree. This is where she came to rid herself of the demons she caught. It was a controlled gate to other dimensions. Hadley never knew how it worked, but it was  
nice to have _something_ to come home to; especially since the townspeople considered her to be a curse. The sheriff was kind enough to let her take her driver's test a few months early. She passed, and was gone before the week was done.

Her last visit over six months ago had given her hope.

"Of course there are more gargoyles," the Doctor's apparition had said. "They are a small populace these days, but they're out there."

"As is someone from your mother's side of the family," Helen's voice accompanied it.

"Family?" Hadley hadn't known how to respond to that. Her mother hadn't kept in any contact with her family. Hadley never met them. She never even knew her mother's maiden name.

"How can I find them?" Hadley had asked.

"You'll have to do your own research," Helen replied gently. "We are forbidden from revealing information that is critical to your path."

Hadley had heard that before. Only demons revealed secrets and it was usually to mess with you… _if_ they were telling the truth.

"Go find them, Hadley," the doctor said. "You can't go through your life all alone."

"I'm fine like this," Hadley insisted.

"Not everyone you love will be taken from you, dear," Helen reasoned.

"I know," Hadley lied.

…

Hadley looked at the paper she'd printed off. She was getting close.

Good thing, too. She felt uneasy walking with a flow of people in the big city. She had to strategically dress to hide her markings, not wanting to alarm the building security.

She'd researched the information given to her by Robert and Helen. Her mother's maiden name was completely unorthodox, and Hadley didn't blame her for hastily taking 'Reyes' over it.

Luckily for Hadley, the name was linked to a largely-empowered businessman, making her last remaining uncle easy to find. Hell, he owned half of Manhattan, and the building that his name was linked to was the tallest in the country.

As if every bit of luck she'd ever have in her life was congregating to this one part of her existence, the large name was also linked to sightings of gargoyles in the late nineties. Hadley couldn't chicken out or put it off any longer. It had taken her  
nearly half a year to find it and get there. Jobs along the way kept her sane, but she couldn't help her nervousness as she pushed through the revolving doors of the massive building.

There was a very clean-cut man at the front desk. He had neatly styled blond hair and glasses. The combination of his suit and immensely uninterested expression only made Hadley more and more hesitant as she approached the desk.

He was on the phone with someone, and Hadley took a moment to appreciate the expensively decorated lobby.

Granite tiles the size of a parking space lined the floor, exquisitely polished. The desk was also granite, and Hadley felt as if she wasn't supposed to touch it. A vase of orchids sat to the side, and a gold nameplate perched before the monotonous secretary.  
It read 'Owen Burnett' in block letters.

"Can I help you?" his voice matched his appearance, nasal and uninterested.

Hadley took a deep breath and sent up a prayer.

"I'm here to see Mr. Xanatos."


	3. How Do You Know That Name

**3.** **How Do You Know That Name**

"Unfortunately, Mr. Xanatos is too busy for walk-ins. You must make an appointment," Mr. Burnett replied, almost sounding sarcastic.

"When is he free?" Hadley asked, nervousness fading to annoyance.

"I'll take down your name, and someone will contact you when a timeslot is opened," he responded monotonously.

"Tell him…" Hadley paused momentarily as a woman showed her badge to the doorman. She knew if she said her real name, there was a chance she would catch attention.

Mr. Burnett waited silently, but didn't appear patient.

"Tell him that Amelia Catherine Reyes wants to see him," Hadley finally said.

Mr. Burnett took the name down and muttered something that resembled a polite dismissal. Hadley walked out of the building, a sinking feeling in her gut.

…

David Xanatos sat at his desk that evening, concluding his work for the day.

A knock sounded on the door, "Mr. Xanatos?"

"Ah, Owen," he greeted. "Punctual as usual."

"Just dropping off your appointments," Owen replied. "A few of your independent business owners, Alex's tutor, and a Miss Reyes."

"Reyes?" David sifted through his papers, half paying attention. "From what business?"

"The young woman only left the name, so I did a little research," Owen replied. "The name was invalid. It belonged to someone who is deceased. She didn't leave an address or phone number to be reached at."

"What was the name that was used?" David was amused by this now.

"Amelia Catherine Reyes," Owen read from the notepad. "Very specific. Perhaps to shade over the fact that it was falsified."

David stopped sifting through the papers. It couldn't be. Nobody in the press knew of his sister. If they did, any excitement from it was surely gone. She'd been dead for almost two decades. Neither Fox, nor Alex knew of her.

"Is everything alright, Mr. Xanatos?" Owen asked.

"Yes, thank you, Owen," David replied. "If the she comes back, send her up immediately."

Owen almost raised a brow, but nodded and exited the room before anyone would think too much about it.

David leaned back in his chair and rubbed his face. All he could do now was wait.

…

Hadley flew around the city that night, taking in the sights. She was more of a nature kind of girl, but she could appreciate the scenery of Manhattan from the sky.

She had managed to escape attention for the first hour or so, until she perched near the Xanatos building.

"Hey!" a voice called.

Hadley looked up from her perch in the shadows. A red creature with pterodactyl wings was gliding toward her, followed by a purple one and a teal one. The purple one had a feminine voice and was calling her as well.

Hadley panicked and took flight, keeping to alleyways. The less they saw of her, the better.

…

Brooklyn spotted her first. He'd called to Angela and Broadway, almost in disbelief. Lexington was busy hanging out with Alex…as usual. Goliath and Elisa were elsewhere, and Brooklyn didn't want to risk losing sight of the unfamiliar gargoyle by searching for the two of them.

They took off in a hurry, excited at the possibility of more of their kind. Brooklyn called out for her, but she took off. She was a far more advanced glider than any of them. She almost appeared to be _flying_ rather than gliding.

Her agility had allowed her to escape, and the three gargoyles perched on a building's abandoned rooftop to catch their breath.

"That definitely wasn't one of my rookery sisters from Avalon," Angela panted. "She wouldn't have fled."

"It wasn't anyone I've ever seen," Broadway interjected breathlessly.

"We have to tell Goliath and Elisa," Brooklyn decided. "They might be able to help look for her."

At that obvious conclusion, the three returned to the castle. News of another Gargoyle was always welcomed warmly. They weren't completely endangered, but they were definitely small in numbers. It didn't help that people weren't as accepting to them now as they had been a thousand years ago.

The three Gargoyles rushed through the castle to find the rest of the clan. Among the first found was their leader, Goliath, and his chosen mate, Elisa.

Shortly after gargoyles became accepted as a part of New York Law Enforcement (not on file, for fear of government attention), things had settled down enough for Goliath and Elisa to _finally_ come to terms with their feelings. Elisa, born a human, retired early from the NYPD (on paper) and Owen helped Alex to change her into a Gargoyle. The entire clan worked with the police off-record ever since her change. She and Goliath had two hatchlings that same year.

They were twins, hatched from the same egg, much to everyone's surprise. They looked alike, but were completely different personalities.

Ash was the first to break through the egg's shell, and he didn't let his brother forget it. He was gray as stone with the very same jet-black hair both of his parents possessed. It was shaved over his ears and stood tall on the top of his head, in a sort of thick Mohawk that hung low on his neck. He was built like his father; broad-shouldered and thick with muscle. He wore weathered denim pants with holes, no shirt (not just because he didn't have to, but because he thought it was easier to show off his muscles that way). A leather belt held the pants low on his hips, and matching wrist cuffs adorned each arm.

Ryder looked fairly similar to his older brother, with the same color of his flesh, hair, and eyes. But his hair was short on his neck and longer over his forehead, which he constantly pushed from his eyes. He was softer than Ash; much more passive and quiet. He enjoyed reading and helping Lexington with whatever device he'd gotten his claws on. He was leaner than Ash and Goliath, however. He stood just as tall and his wings reached just as wide, but his build more resembled Brooklyn. He wore khaki-colored jeans that were well worn-in but lacked holes. A black belt held them on his hips, and he never wore a shirt simply because he hated things touching his wings.

The two of them were bickering in the library when the three returned from their futile chase.

"Father!" Angela called.

Goliath turned from the book in his hand and Elisa turned from the egg she was attending.

"Angela," Goliath greeted with a smile.

"Father, we saw another Gargoyle!" she exclaimed. "One we've never met before!"

"A _female_ Gargoyle that we've never met before," Brooklyn added with a smirk.

Ash, Ryder, and Lexington all turned their heads, suddenly interested.

"Where is this stranger?" Goliath asked.

"We lost her," Broadway answered.

"She was faster than any of us," Angela said, sitting beside her egg. "I've never seen a Gargoyle that fast. Not even Demona."

"It's almost as if she wasn't gliding, but _flying_ ," Brooklyn added. "She took off as soon as she saw us, and we couldn't keep up."

"She could be alone," Elisa reasoned, handing the egg to Angela. "She's probably scared."

"Is it possible that this is a trick?" Ryder asked.

"It is always possible," Goliath answered.

"She wasn't leading us," Angela reasoned. "She was trying to lose us."

"She could need help," Goliath concluded. "Split into twos and search for her, but be cautious. If she feels threatened, she may attack."

They split into groups, taking sections of the city. Hudson and Bronx agreed to watch over Angela and Broadway's egg while the rest of the clan was out searching.

They returned at dawn fruitless.

…

Hadley made her way back to the building a few evenings later. She couldn't enjoy flying around the city due to the gargoyles' search for her, and had instead hunted down a spirit or two around the abandoned sides of town.

With nothing more to do, she'd returned to see Xanatos. She hoped.

When she pushed her way through the clean glass doors, the man behind the desk that usually wore a mask of almost annoyed disinterest widened his eyes slightly.

"Miss Reyes?" he called out. "Miss Amelia Catherine Reyes?"

Hadley's head snapped from the ceiling to meet the man's eyes, "You've got a good memory, Mr. Burnett."

"Mr. Xanatos is expecting you, if you'll please follow me," he replied, gesturing to the elevator.

"Really?" Hadley looked at him in disbelief as she stepped into the elevator behind the desk.

"Yes, really," he replied, sarcasm hidden behind the emotionless voice.

The ride up in the elevator was uncomfortably quiet, and Hadley pulled up the collar of her jacket. Though the building was kept much warmer than the chilled outdoor air, she was still cold. Or maybe she was nervous…maybe both.

Mr. Burnett gestured to follow when the elevator doors finally opened on the top floor. The hallway was flooded in the orange light of the sunset, and the main room they crossed had a stone block floor. It was decorated to look like an old castle…convincingly so.

"The heating bill in this place must be a small fortune," Hadley muttered to herself, tugging on her collar once again. She pulled her hair loose and combed it with her fingers nervously. It had grown to sit nearly at her waist, and the braid gave it unruly waves. She used it to further hide the black markings on the back of her neck in case she was asked to remove her coat.

She followed him into a large office with a window that faced the sunset, and the shadow of a desk and a tall office chair reached across the floor. Her heart beat quickly inside her chest as the suit announced her.

"Mr. Xanatos, this is Miss Reyes," he enunciated.

The chair swiveled around revealing a man who was probably in his fifties or so, slightly graying over his ears and in his neatly trimmed beard. His brown eyes searched Hadley's face as he stood with his fingertips resting on the expensive wood desk.

"Please come in," he said politely, gesturing to one of the leather chairs before him. "That will be all, Owen. Thank you."

Mr. Burnett nodded and excused himself, closing the office door behind him. Hadley walked carefully forward, feeling the man's eyes on her. She sat in the chair and he did the same.

"You told my assistant that your name was Amelia Catherine," he began. "But we both know that isn't true; because Amelia Catherine has been dead for close to twenty years, and we haven't spoken in even longer than that."

"Yes," Hadley replied. "But I doubt I would be sitting here right now if I used another name."

David intertwined his fingers and rested his chin against them. "You're probably right."

"It was almost impossible to link you to her," Hadley confessed. "That alone took a few months. But, here I am, nonetheless."

"The only reason you are here is because I want to know _how_ you know that name," he lowered his hands to rest on the desk. "Not even my wife knows who Amelia is. It's much too long after her death for any paper or reporter to catch wind of the name and link it to me, so I'll ask you once and only once before you're thrown out of the building. _How do you know that name_?"

Hadley retained her steely gaze, "She was born Amelia Catherine Xanatos. It took me months of research to find that out. I never did find out why she cut contact with her family. It was only about six months ago that I learned you existed."

"Amelia was my little sister," David replied lowly, telling Hadley she had struck a nerve and was wearing on his patience.

"She married Nicholas Reyes in the early nineties, legally changing her last name, and left most of the connection between you two in the dust," Hadley continued, sitting back in her chair. "Twenty three years ago, they had a baby girl named Hadley. They raised their family in a fishing town on the west coast for six years. Seventeen and a half years ago, the entirety of the Reyes family was killed with the exception of the little girl, who was left mutilated."

A silent tear slipped down her cheek, and she stared at the desk as she continued. "The papers called it an animal attack. It left Amelia's daughter completely alone at the age of six. All because she never mentioned her family."

David had returned to resting his mouth against his hands, disbelief written on his face. He took inventory of the similarities beneath the dark hair and the jagged scars.

Hadley wiped the tear away quickly and regained her composition. "I want to know what could have possibly happened between you two that would've made her keep her life a secret."

David was at a loss for words. He saw all of the similarities. The steely blue eyes, the softly pointed nose, the athletic build, the stubbornly set mouth…

"I should probably properly introduce myself," she stood and extended a small, softly-calloused hand. "My name is Hadley Reyes. I'm your niece."


	4. Reunited

**4\. Reunited**

David stood and walked around his desk. His arms were folded across his chest as he looked at her, ignoring her hand.

She dropped it, tucking it back into her pocket and meeting his dubious gaze directly.

"Amelia never mentioned that she got married, or that she had a kid. I didn't even find out about her death until I saw an obituary in one of the out-of-state papers I read."

Hadley didn't bat an eye, "I didn't even know she had any family until six months ago, otherwise, you might've met me a few decades sooner."

"So, am I supposed to believe that after almost twenty years, you want to reunite with family?" David sat on his desk, his expressions more guarded.

"Believe whatever you want," Hadley replied, unfazed. "I'm here to find out why my mother never mentioned you to anyone."

"It couldn't possibly be my money that made you reach out?" he asked skeptically.

"I'd be lying if I told you that your money didn't look pretty damn appealing, but that's not why I'm here," Hadley responded, crossing her arms.

"Oh?" he raised a brow. "You're not just a clever little actress seeking the pity of a multi-billionaire?"

"I'm many things, Mr. Xanatos," Hadley responded, "pity-seeking is not one of those things."

David couldn't help but smirk. "How can I be sure?"

"You can't," Hadley answered. "Unless Amelia was able to be here to introduce us, you only have my word."

"Perhaps a background check?" he suggested sarcastically.

"It would be better in my favor if you didn't, but you would find that what I told you about my family is true," Hadley replied before thinking.

"What else would I find?" David leaned forward, prying.

"Things that I'm not proud of and can't properly explain," she answered, hinting that she wouldn't say more on the subject.

"Aside from your relation to me," David re-crossed his arms, "there is a reason you're here that you are withholding."

Hadley nodded once.

"Judging by your posture, I'd say you don't trust _me_ enough to mention it yet. How marvelous," he almost laughed.

"Just because we share blood doesn't mean I trust you," Hadley replied. "I figured a man like you would understand that."

David pursed his lips and shrugged in agreement.

He walked across the office to a wood bookcase and pulled out a photo album. He flipped through the pages, smiling slightly at the photographs inside.

"I don't suppose you remember enough to prove it?" he looked up as he spoke.

Hadley recited all she remembered of her mother that might have meant something to Xanatos: her birthday, her birthmarks, her favorite food, the book she read most, the bands she listened to… But it wasn't easy when they knew her at completely separate times.

He seemed satisfied with this information, and placed the photo album in Hadley's lap. It was open to photographs of her mother as a teenager. Senior portraits from when she graduated in the early eighties. Hadley blinked back tears as she flipped through the pages.

"Amelia and I were so different growing up," Xanatos said softly. "She was fierce and brilliant, but held such compassion for others. I was arrogant and self-centered. Everything I did was to better my own life. She always told me that she'd never understand me."

"She volunteered everywhere she could in town," Hadley replied. "She was rarely home."

"You look just like her," he said. "I don't doubt what you say is true."

"I just want to understand why she never told anyone about you," Hadley looked up from the photo album. "I won't stay long. But I _need_ to know what happened."

David nodded, then stood. "Walk with me."

Hadley closed the album and set it on the desk, then followed Xanatos through the wide corridors of the castle.

"Amelia knew I had plans for myself," he began. "She didn't like how I operated my business. Truth be told, I was scheming and deceptive in the beginning. It caused…tension between my father and I."

Hadley shoved her hands into the pockets of her coat as they walked through a large dining hall.

"Evidently, she didn't want to be associated with the name I had made for myself. I had too many irons in the fire, and most of them were corrupt," he admitted. "She told me she didn't want any part in it anymore. Then, one day, she just packed up and left. She called me from the hospital a few years later. I didn't know why she was there at the time, but I could hear the machines beeping and the nurse over the intercom in the background," he concluded.

"She had just given birth," Hadley deduced.

"I could hear you crying over the phone, but I didn't think anything of it then," Xanatos said. "I figured it was down the hall or in another room."

"I think she kept a picture of you on her shelf," Hadley remembered. "It was her, an older man, and a man about her age at a cabin, all wrapped up in a plaid—"

"Plaid, red and black sleeping bag, unzipped, stained where the zipper connects at the foot of it," Xanatos finished.

Hadley nodded, "I looked at it a lot back then. I asked her who was in the picture, but she never did tell me."

"We went on a camping trip for her eighteenth birthday," he recalled. "She spilled hot chocolate on the sleeping bag, but it was her favorite, so she wouldn't part with it."

A woman with red hair came out to the courtyard where they had wandered then, calling for Xanatos.

"David?" she hollered. "David, it's dusk!"

Xanatos looked rushed when she said this, as if it meant something secretly urgent.

"Oh, of course. Follow me," he said to Hadley. "I have an appointment to get to."

"Alright," Hadley replied, though she could tell something was up.

He whispered something to the woman with red hair as he passed her, then led Hadley through the kitchen.

"I would love for you to meet the rest of my family," he said as they approached the elevators. "If you come back tomorrow at the same time, it would bring me great pleasure if you would have dinner with us."

"Oh, alright," she replied, unsure how she should feel.

Xanatos watched her as the doors closed and she descended in the elevator. Fox walked up behind him.

"You cut it pretty close. She was only moments away from seeing the Gargoyles waking up," she scolded. "Who was that, anyways?"

"My niece."

…

Alex leaned against the bar as his father poured a drink the following evening. Owen had the night off, and his father had insisted he be present for a dinner in the formal dining room.

"What's this even about?" he asked for the hundredth time.

"We are having someone over for dinner that I want you to meet," David replied, taking a sip. "She's family, and I want her to meet you and your mother."

"What about the rest of the family?" Alex steeped a tea bag in his cup.

"All in good time," David replied.

"Is she like an ancient aunt that's been in hiding for thirty years or something?" Alex took a careful sip.

"She's your cousin," David replied.

Alex paused, cup still to his lips. He eyed his father, seeing no trace of the teasing glint he expected. "No, seriously."

"Seriously," David repeated. "She's your cousin."

"I thought you didn't have any siblings," Alex began to get worked up. "How can I have a cousin if you are an only child? Is she blackmailing you?"

David laughed, "I never said I was an only child. You assumed I was."

"Why didn't you ever tell me you had a sibling?"

David looked down at his glass, lifting it to take a sip, "She died shortly after you were born."

Alex could see the pain in his father's masked face, though it only showed for a fraction of a second before his composition returned.

David swallowed the sip of scotch and continued, "We hadn't spoken in several years, anyway. She was living across the country, and never flew home for the holidays. I didn't know she got married, let alone had a daughter, and none of her husband's family knew she had any relatives."

"And she just now gets in contact?" Alex was skeptical. "That's a little suspicious, don't you think? Twenty years is a long time."

"She says she didn't know her mother had family until about six months ago," David replied. "Apparently, my sister wasn't forthcoming with information."

The single tone of the elevator announced Hadley, and David walked into the entry room to greet her.

She pulled a beanie off and was combing her fingers through her hair as the doors opened.

"So glad you could make it," he greeted. "Please come in. The dining room is this way."

Hadley followed her uncle through the castle, twisting her beanie in her cold hands. The weather was frigid outside, and she'd nearly slipped on ice walking to the building. It was only November.

They stepped past a large formal dining room that was decorated to match the rest of the castle, then into the kitchen, where a much more reasonably-sized table was set. Hadley set her beanie on the back of the chair and stripped her jacket off, no longer caring if her markings were covered.

From the bar, Alex eyed the strange woman. Her white tee shirt and long, dark hair did little to cover the sleeve of ink on her arm. When she turned to face him and his father, the combination of her shockingly-cold blue eyes and the gruesome scars on her face had Alex nearly choking on his tea.

"Alex," his father's voice broke his train of thought, "This is Hadley Reyes, your cousin. Hadley, this is my son, Alex."

Hadley took one look at the young man her uncle gestured to and did her best not to smirk. He was obviously a rich kid, with plain clothing that bore expensive labels and expertly-styled red hair. Hadley's appearance was probably a shock to someone like him. She was heavily inked and scarred across her face, with a rough voice and the vocabulary of a sailor; he was clean-cut and probably didn't know anyone with scars from anything besides plastic surgery. He was gaping at her the way spectators look at a wild animal: with shock and uncertainty. She didn't even bother to try to shake his hand. Her own judgements of him were probably just as offensive as the ones he made of her.

"Do I have something on my face?" She dramatically touched the unscarred cheek, making Alex squirm with discomfort.

"No, I…Uh," he stuttered. "Your face…there's nothing there that… I mean, it's clean."

"Then what are you staring at?" Hadley touched her other cheek, watching his discomfort grow. She scratched it noisily, watching him flinch.

Alex squirmed more, trying to deny what Hadley was saying. He was beet-red and beginning to sweat. David looked amused.

"Little white lies are only useful if you tell them convincingly," Hadley stepped closer to him, keeping her gaze cold. Alex stared wide-eyed as she neared him, standing nearly as tall as he did.

Alex looked like he was about to have a heart attack. Hadley couldn't keep up that act anymore. She burst with laughter, earning a baffled look from her cousin and a laugh from her uncle.

"I'm just giving you shit, lighten up," she cackled hoarsely. "You looked like you were about to have a heart attack back there. Did you see him, Xanatos? That was the greatest thing I've seen in months!"

David continued laughing into his glass while Alex made a displeased face.

"Yeah, hilarious," he grumbled, frowning.


	5. Promise Me

5\. Promise Me

Alex sat through most of the meal as Hadley charmed his parents with her terrifying personality. The more stories she told of run-ins with burglars and her interest in mythology, the more David and Fox adored her, and the more Alex couldn't stand her.

Her table manners were appalling; she swore and laughed loudly, she rested her elbows on the table, and she drank whiskey. Alex felt as if he was looking at some sort of animal. He excused himself from the table to spend a few moments with the Gargoyles.  
They would surely see past the spell-like charm of the savage that discussed myths over a full glass of liquor.

He didn't trust her. Not one bit. And he knew just who to go to for information.

"Elisa?" he called when he stepped into the library.

"Oh, hi, Alex," she stood from under Goliath's arm on the couch. "How is dinner?"

"Just peachy," he replied sarcastically. "They love her. Both of them."

"Who's 'her'? Xanatos said you'd be having a guest, but he didn't tell us who it was," Broadway spoke from the floor beside his and Angela's egg.

"His niece," Alex replied. "At least, that's who she claims to be?"

"You don't believe her?" Elisa asked.

"I don't like her," Alex corrected. "Something is off, and I'm the only one who sees it."

"What do you mean?" Angela asked, turning toward him.

"My parents are fooled, but I'm not," he replied, determined. "She's hiding something, and I want to know what it is. Elisa, do you think you could order a background check on her?"

"I guess I could call Matt," she said with a shrug, "But what do you think we'll find?"

"I don't know. I'm hoping nothing. I just have a bad feeling that she's not everything she says she is," Alex crossed his arms.

"What's her name?" Angela asked. "Maybe we've met her somewhere."

"Hadley Reyes," Alex answered. "Her mother's name was Amelia Catherine Xanatos, if that narrows it down."

Elisa nodded, "I'll call Matt. You get back out there before anyone starts looking for you."

"Thanks, Elisa," he replied lowly. He turned and walked out of the library, feeling a little better.

Elisa pursed her lips in thought. The girl's name itself didn't sound familiar, but her mother's did. Elisa turned it over in her mind, trying to place it.

"Is everything alright, Elisa?" Goliath put an arm on her shoulder.

"Yeah," she replied, smiling up at her mate. "I'm going to go call Matt."

…

Alex waited the mandatory few days it took to get a background check. All the while, Hadley became closer to his parents. She met the Gargoyles, too.

Her reaction wasn't what Alex expected. She didn't look afraid at all, and even surprise was faked. She looked relieved, though. As if she'd been waiting to meet them. Goliath remained distant alongside Elisa, but for different reasons. Goliath didn't  
trust easily. Hudson seemed to like her, though. They talked about scars and battles, as veterans do. Bronx was unsure of her, as if he wasn't sure what he was seeing. He didn't growl, but he didn't wag his tail, either. Brooklyn and Lexington were  
polite and seemed impressed with her knowledge about fighting and mythology. Broadway and Angela found her fascinating.

Alex was almost boiling over when Hudson asked her to duel him.

She'd agreed, and it only furthered her image in David and Fox's eyes. She bested Hudson two out of five times. Had she have been bigger and stronger, as a human couldn't be, she would've beaten him all five times.

Fox then challenged Hadley hand-to-hand. _That_ was a sight to see; a woman in her fifties keeping up with a woman in her twenties, doing things one only really saw on TV. Alex had to give Hadley points for that. His mother was extremely skilled  
in combat. For Hadley to duel a Gargoyle, then turn around and best his mother was unheard of, even for some non-humans. It furthered his distrust for her.

…

Hadley was overjoyed, not that she let herself admit it. She was surrounded by family, both human and Gargoyle. She'd never belonged anywhere this much before. Especially when the rest of the clan grew accustomed to her. Brooklyn and Hudson were her favorite.  
Goliath made her nervous, and Elisa was polite, but Hadley got the feeling there was something she was withholding.

When she admitted that this was her first time in Manhattan, Brooklyn insisted on showing her around. For some reason, he took her alone, flying across the night sky with her on his back. He pointed to different buildings and took her to the top of the  
Statue of Liberty when the tour was over. They sat on her crown, dangling their feet over the edge.

"We've been here for over twenty years," Brooklyn continued his story. "Goliath says there's bound to be more of us out there, but for now, it's just us here."

"More?" Hadley perked up before she could help herself. "Where?"

"Goliath, Angela, and Elisa saw some in Guatemala, Japan, and Nigeria," Brooklyn answered. "We haven't found more around here in groups, but I thought I saw one the other night."

Hadley felt a drop in her gut, "Oh?"

"Yeah," he laughed, rubbing his neck under his long, white hair. "She got away, though. She was fast, like she was flying."

"If she was a Gargoyle, she probably was," Hadley replied.

"Gargoyles can't fly," Brooklyn corrected. "We can only glide on air currents."

"Really? Why?" Hadley asked. Was she different from these Gargoyles?

Brooklyn shrugged. "Too heavy, I guess."

"Have you tried?" Hadley asked.

Brooklyn looked thoughtful for a moment, staring out over the water. "I wouldn't know where to start."

Hadley thought for a moment. She was debating in her mind whether or not she should show Brooklyn her secret. Sure, she trusted him. He'd been fairly understanding to her since they met. True, she'd only known him and the rest of the clan for a few days,  
but wasn't that why she'd come here in the first place? To trust?

"Are you alright?" Brooklyn was looking at her now. "You've been quiet for a few minutes."

"Oh," Hadley shook off her thoughts, "I'm fine. Just thinking."

"About what?" he asked gently, making an effort not to sound like he was prying.

"I don't think everyone likes me very much," she said. It wasn't usual for her to care what others thought, but this was her family. If she was to care what _someone_ thought, it should really be them, right? Besides, the only other person she cared  
about probably hated her guts now. Was that how this time was doomed to go?

"What makes you say that?" Brooklyn asked.

"Alex looks at me like I'm some kind of wild animal. Goliath looks skeptical, and Elisa just seems like she's waiting for me to screw up," Hadley admitted. It dinged her pride to admit her insecurities, but she knew it was a part of trusting someone.  
She hated it. It made her vulnerable.

"Don't mind Alex. He's used to being the center of attention," Brooklyn comforted. "You should've seen him when the twins were born. He didn't like them much either. And now with Angela and Broadway's egg due any day, you may just be another distraction."

"What about Goliath and Elisa?" Hadley asked.

"Goliath doesn't trust anyone at first," Brooklyn answered, putting a clawed hand on Hadley's shoulder. "It's a long story, don't take it personally. And Elisa used to be a detective. She's not one to trust easily either."

Hadley's eyes snapped back to meet Brooklyn's, "What?"

"What?"

"Elisa was a detective?" Hadley was beginning to panic, but kept herself somewhat reserved.

"Yeah, why?" Brooklyn could sense a little anxiety in Hadley, though she was fairly experienced in hiding it. "She used to be human. Once she retired, Alex turned her into a Gargoyle so she could be with Goliath."

Hadley didn't listen to the last part. She knew that if Elisa had worked in a police department in the last ten years, she would've heard something about Hadley's record. She sorted through her options. If she left, she would abandon her only family.  
If she stayed, she would either be turned in, or cause tension in the household. Xanatos was very well-known by the media. If it leaked that she was with him, other authorities would come looking for her. She needed a reason to undoubtedly belong  
to this family. Even if she had to run, she needed something that bound her there.

Brooklyn saw the panic in her cold eyes. "Hadley? Is there something you aren't telling me?"

Hadley didn't meet his eyes, "Yes."

Brooklyn didn't expect an honest answer. He'd been prepared to pry it from her, but she'd just admitted it easily. Why?

"What is it?" he asked. "What does it have to do with Elisa?"

Hadley adjusted to a squat and took Brooklyn by the shoulders, "Promise me that whatever happens, you won't look at me differently."

"What are you talking about?" he asked uncomfortably.

"Please, Red," she pleaded sincerely. "Promise me. I need someone I can trust. You have no idea how much."

Brooklyn couldn't deny the sincerity he saw in those steely blue eyes. Hadley had been on her own most of her life. He'd heard the story, or so he thought. Didn't she deserve to trust someone?

He nodded slowly, "Alright, I promise."

He saw only a little relief in Hadley's eyes.

She let go of his shoulders and stood. She stripped off her jacket and flannel, revealing a sleeveless black shirt. She stepped out of her boots and removed her socks. She didn't seem to notice Brooklyn's uncomfortable gaze.

Stepping forward to the edge of the crown, she turned to Brooklyn, "Stay here. I'll be right back."

Brooklyn watched in horror as she spread her arms out and fell back off the crown. In a moment or two, he was over his shock enough to look down after her. But as he scrambled to look over the edge, ready to jump, he didn't see her falling form.

His head darted all around, looking for some trace of her, hoping to catch a glimpse in time to dive after her.

A loud thump nearly scared him out of his own skin, and he whirled around so fast that he lost his balance. His clawed foot slipped from the edge he kneeled on and he fell.

Just as he recognized the need to right himself and glide away, a clawed hand caught his own. He looked at it, processing his predicament. The hand was of a Gargoyle for sure. Its color was grey, like the twins, but much too small. Feminine. It had a  
strange marking up the arm. His eyes traced it all the way up to a black, sleeveless shirt with a long braid falling over it. The face had familiar features: a softly-pointed nose and semi-full lips that were pulled back over brilliant white teeth,  
cold blue eyes, and three jagged scars on the leftside of the face.

"Hadley?"

She smiled through her effort to hold him up, showing four delicately-pointed canines, "Surprise."

She pulled Brooklyn up and waited for him to steady himself. He looked her up and down. She was, indeed, a Gargoyle. Her jeans were too short now, reaching her calves, and she rolled them up. A knife was still tucked in her belt, her shirt exposed midriff,  
and she had sprouted horns. They came from the top of her head, over her ears, and twisted back like a gazelle's, but shorter. She stood an inch or two shorter than Brooklyn, and had a worried expression on her face.

"For fuck's sake, Red. _Say_ something," she pleaded.

"You're…" he couldn't think straight. "How is this possible?"

"A sorcerer," Hadley answered. "I asked him to make me one so I could protect people."

"From what?" he asked.

"Everything the police can't," she answered. "That's what I do, Red. I protect people from things they don't think exist."

Brooklyn scratched his head then crossed his arms. "Why?"

Hadley looked away for a moment, feeling long-dead emotions stirring. "What I told you about my family isn't entirely true. It wasn't an animal that killed them."

Lexington had looked up the article after Hadley left one night. The entire clan read it. Brooklyn recalled every word. "What happened?"

Hadley pressed her lips together, "A necromancer used a spirit to possess me."

Brooklyn put the pieces together. His eyes widened in realization. "So you..?"

Hadley nodded. "I saw it all, but there was nothing I could do then. When it was done, it left me alive. The necromancer laughed the whole time. His spirit left me with this," she touched her cheek.

Brooklyn raised his hand to run it gently over her cheek. Hadley didn't move.

"The local doctor that took me in was a sorcerer," she continued. "He and his wife helped make me like this. I wanted to be stronger. I didn't want anyone to go through what I went through."

"What about them?" Brooklyn asked, taking her face into his hands and forcing that cold stare upon himself.

Hadley's face was masked, void of expression. "A wendigo."

Brooklyn was familiar with the mythology, though he'd never seen one.

"I killed it, but not before it got them. It reopened my scar, and it didn't heal right after that," Hadley said. "The house fire incinerated it completely. I told the authorities that I was asleep when the fire started, and came out to find them on the  
floor. The smoke made me pass out. None of it was true except the last part. But I was human when they found me, so nobody knew my secret. But the townspeople called me a witch. That was a riot."

Brooklyn brushed a stray tear from her cheek and pulled her into his embrace. She stiffened for a moment.

"You're among friends," Brooklyn assured her. "Your secret is safe with me until you decide to tell them."

He felt her relax and her arms encircled his ribs, holding tightly, "Thanks, Red."

He didn't let go for a few moments, just letting her feel safe for once in her wretched life.

"Is this what you didn't want Elisa to know?" he asked.

"Partially," she answered into his shoulder.

They pulled back from each other, and Hadley sighed shortly.

"I traveled the country hunting these types of things. Myths, legends, it didn't matter. If it was out of the ordinary, I went. I killed things, Red. Sometimes the cops thought they were the humans they masqueraded as. I'm wanted for over a hundred cases  
of murder, credit card fraud, and burglary."

"Does anyone else know the truth?" he asked.

Hadley felt a small twinge, "One person."

"Who?" he asked.

"A former friend from the Midwest," she replied. "It was this town that was really haunted. The mayor called me in when it wasn't just ghosts roaming around. I met him there. He wasn't normal either. He caught me like this, and wasn't too happy when I  
left."

"What do you mean he wasn't normal?" Brooklyn asked.

"He was half-ghost. Kind of a celebrity in his town. As far as I knew, he joined the Police Academy. When he makes it through, he will probably have another warrant for my arrest."

Brooklyn crossed his arms, "You have to tell them. If they somehow find out, it could make them not trust you."

Hadley nodded, one side of her mouth turned down. "Fine. Little bits at a time."

"That's fair," Brooklyn nodded.


	6. I Still Don't Trust Her

**A/N: Hi everyone.**

 **Prior to posting this chapter, I received a bad 'review' from someone. This 'review' was irrelevant to anything I had written on this story or any other. It did not contain any context as to why the person felt this way, and I had never interacted with this person at all. I reported the rude comment, and hope to get it removed.**

 **Criticism is much appreciated. I am far from perfect, and strive to be better. I love that someone I don't know took time out of their day to give me their opinion on my work, whether it is that they loved it, or that they had some thoughts about how to better the story. Thank you to those that reviewed and continue to read my fics.**

 **HOWEVER, negative comments that do NOT display helpful information or opinions in a polite and respectful way will NOT be tolerated. We, as authors, are aware that we do not all share the same taste in writing. This website is a showcase for people to exchange their own forms of stories they love. We owe it to one another to be respectful of each other's works, regardless of whether or not we like it.**

 **To all authors who've received rude comments as well, stand tall. You're all beautiful-minded visionaries, despite your naysayers.**

 **End rant.**

 **~HopeLiterature**

 **6\. I Still Don't Trust Her**

Hadley gathered her things and took flight, Brooklyn on her heels. She felt no need to rush, and glided beside Brooklyn over the bay.

"You're going to teach me how to fly like you, right?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood.

Hadley let out a laugh, "If you want."

Brooklyn glided around her in a circle, showing off. Hadley gave a smirk and rolled over, bending her wings carefully to glide on her back. It looked impossible to Brooklyn, but Hadley was happy she had someone to show off to.

The fun was over too soon as they set foot on the castle walls. Hadley fiddled with her things as they walked across the courtyard.

"I could bring out Goliath and Elisa first if you want," Brooklyn offered.

"No, thanks though, Red." Hadley tossed her braid back over her shoulder and folded her wings over her shoulders as she saw he did. "Let's just get this over with."

Brooklyn wrapped an arm over her shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze. "They'll just be happy that there's another gargoyle."

Hadley gave a half smile, but didn't say anything as they entered the castle.

When they walked through the main hall, Elisa and Goliath were talking in hushed voices.

Brooklyn cleared his throat, squeezing Hadley's shoulder to comfort her.

Goliath and Elisa turned around instantly, and did a double-take. Both were open-mouthed. Hadley stepped forward, leaving the comfort of Brooklyn's arm.

"I haven't been completely honest with you guys," she began. "I'm sorry."

Elisa stepped forward, searching her. "Well, imagine that. A Gargoyle."

Goliath crossed his arms over his wide chest, "Why have you kept this from us?"

Hadley met his gaze, "I wanted to be sure I could trust you."

He seemed to understand that. Elisa looked surprised, but expectant.

"I'm partially a Gargoyle," Hadley continued. "I was born human, then a sorcerer made me one. I can shift between the two at will."

"Why?" Goliath asked.

"So I can protect people," Hadley answered. "That's what I do."

He seemed satisfied with that answer for the time being, but Elisa still looked as if she was waiting for something.

Brooklyn stepped forward and draped an arm around her shoulder, "Perhaps we should tell the others?"

Goliath nodded, "Yes. Come this way. Everyone is in the library."

Hadley frowned. She was the center of attention. She _hated_ being the center of attention. Everyone's eyes on her always made her remember how the townspeople treated her. Judgmental stares bored into her marked skin and whispers echoed in her sensitive ears. Humans were petty. They fed on negativity like parasites.

The first one to see her when they stepped into the room was Angela. She looked surprised, then a smile worked its way across her lips.

"It was _you_ that night," she got up. Broadway followed her, looking happy as well.

"Now we know why you flew off," Broadway said.

"But how?" Lexington asked.

"It's a long story," Hadley replied. "The gist is that the doctor who adopted me was a sorcerer. He made me like this so I could protect people."

"If that's not a Gargoyle, I don't know what is," Hudson said, patting her back roughly.

Bronx seemed satisfied now, wagging his tail as he sat in the crowd of Gargoyles around Hadley.

Alex stood by the fireplace, irritated. Hadley had kept a secret from all of them. She'd admitted to it, and was everyone's favorite again. So, she was a were-gargoyle. Big deal. He still didn't trust her. Something about her was still buried beneath her scarred skin, and Alex had every intention of finding out just what it was.

"So, Hadley," Ash's voice broke out over the happy buzz of the crowd.

Hadley's gaze rose to meet his.

"Now that we know you're one of us, I want to know just how good of a fighter you are," he rubbed his hands together deviously. "Think you can beat me?"

"How good are you?" she smirked, unaffected by his challenge.

"The best, of course," he laughed confidently.

Hadley raised a brow and looked to Elisa.

"Second best," she held up two fingers with a laugh. "He has yet to beat his father."

Hadley bit her lip and smiled, "Alright, bud. You're on."

...

Alex pulled Elisa aside while Hadley and Ash circled each other in the Xanatos' training room.

"What's up?" she asked, in a good mood.

"Did that background check come back yet?" Alex asked urgently.

"You still don't trust Hadley?"

"You do?"

Elisa sighed and crossed her arms. "Matt dropped it off today. I haven't looked through it yet. I'll get it to you by tomorrow."

"Where is it," he demanded.

"I'll get it to you tomorrow," she repeated, leaving no room for argument.

Alex's jaw muscles worked beneath his skin, "Fine."

Elisa looked down her nose at him as he walked out of the room. She understood not trusting someone, but it didn't seem to her like Hadley was truly hiding anything more. Sure, they had only known her a short while, but what could she be hiding?

Elisa chewed her lip, then skipped out on the brawl to sit down with the background check. She pulled the file from a wall safe and sat down in the library.

What she saw terrified her.

Hadley was a suspect in both tragedies from her past. Her fingernails were found in wounds on her family members' corpses, and their blood was all over her when authorities arrived. The doctors recorded that she vomited up various tissues from the bodies when she was taken to the hospital. She had to be tranquilized due to psychotic episodes, and she'd attacked medical staff.

She was put in a mental facility under the care of a Robert Sucidem for her rage. He appeared to be the only one she didn't attack. He legally adopted her a year later, according to the papers.

Elisa's stomach turned as she flipped on.

The case about the fire that took the life of the doctor and his wife was unsolved. Not a single trace of an animal was found in or around the house. Elisa looked at the pictures of the crime scene that were attached to the paperwork. Miniature gargoyle statues littered the surrounding yard in pieces, and claw marks remained in the less-charred rubble that was left when the fire was put out.

The autopsy reports were as terrifying as the rest of the file.

What was left of the charred remains showed teeth marks on the bones. Ribs appeared to be chewed through, and the burnt tissue was ripped to shreds. The cause of death wasn't asphyxiation from the smoke, or severe burns.

These people were torn apart.

The police report that Hadley had blood belonging to the Sucidems on her clothing. It corresponded with her location when she was found by firefighters. She was laying on the bloody carpet beside them, as said in one of the firemen's statements.

The Doctor's report on Hadley after the fire showed she had multiple injuries as if she was attacked. Flesh from the Sucidems was recovered from under her fingernails.

She was psychoanalyzed after this incident and showed multiple characteristics of criminal insanity. The psychologist noted she was 'hauntingly calm' during testing. However, later notes read that, at the mention of both accidents, she would become unresponsive to communication. Photographs triggered psychotic episodes, and she was required to be tranquilized.

Somehow, she obtained a driver's license and escaped the mental healthcare facility. After a few years, the warrants began to pile up. Credit card fraud on several accounts, burglary of weapons warehouses, assault on several officers and civilians, and countless murders.

Elisa closed the file and put it back in the safe, feeling her stomach drop. She leaned against the mantle and stared into the flames.

In all of her years as a detective, she'd never heard of anything this horrible. She had trouble believing that the young woman in the other room was this twisted.

They had unknowingly accepted a raging psychopath into their family.


	7. Inner Demons

**7\. Inner Demons**

Hadley noticed that the following evenings were less comfortable. Elisa looked downright frightened of her, Alex was irritated by her presence, and Goliath kept the twins too busy for her to talk to.

When she asked Brooklyn what was going on, he didn't seem to know.

She stepped out to escape the heavy atmosphere. There was a payphone a couple blocks from the building, to Hadley's surprise.

Against her every instinct, she made a call.

"Hello?" the voice was tired and irritated.

"Spawn?"

A few seconds of silence teetered over the line as Sam gathered her wits enough to be hateful.

"Homicidal Maniac?"

"The one and only," Hadley replied. "You really have to find a better nickname. Seven syllables isn't exactly catchy."

"Where are you? Why are you calling?" Sam sounded like her usual bitter self, with a hint of concern that she couldn't cover.

"I'm on the road," Hadley lied. "I just wanted to make sure Amity Park was still its regular fucked-up self."

"Far from it," Sam whispered into the phone.

"What do you mean?" worry pitted in Hadley's gut.

"You turned everything upside down when you left, you moron," Sam hissed.

"I saved your ass."

"You broke Danny," she cried out. "He's a wreck! He joined that damned academy. They let him through early. He gave away his secret."

"He _what_?!" Hadley barked into the filthy receiver.

"He's sent officers looking all over the country for you," Sam hissed. "Do you know how _pissed_ he will be when he finds out you called me after a _year and a half_ of nothing from you?"

"You can't pin this on me," Hadley growled. "I told him I was going to leave. If he took it hard, it was only because he went and got his hopes up."

"His fault or yours, he's coming after you. And he's _pissed_." Sam moved her phone, making a clicking sound in Hadley's ear. "He's being legal about it, too. You're _screwed_."

"Always a pleasure, Spawn." Hadley dismissed, preparing to hang up the receiver.

"Psychopath! Wait!" Sam called for her.

"Still not catchy. You really suck at nicknames," Hadley responded.

"Look, I'm telling you this to warn you. He's hurt. He's all alone now—"

"What do you mean he's alone?" Hadley interrupted.

"Tucker and I went to school out of state," she answered. "Truth be told, we were getting a little scared. I came home for thanksgiving break, and he didn't even live with his family anymore. He's not Danny anymore. He's obsessed. He thinks the new flow of ghosts here is something only you can deal with."

"He's known for hunting ghosts. What makes these ones so special?" Hadley asked.

"These ghosts are committing murders," Sam whispered.

Hadley furrowed her brows. Spirits didn't kill of their own agenda. They couldn't touch the living with enough force to do a lot of harm. Well, not on their own.

That meant that these were either demons, or there was a mastermind behind the attacks.

Hadley prayed it wasn't the latter.

"Hello? Earth to the Criminally Insane?" Sam's voice broke Hadley's train of thought.

"Spawn, I need you to stay under the protection of all that anti-ghost gear the Fentons built. Do you understand me?" Hadley directed.

"Sure, I always do around here. What's going on? Do you know something?" Sam had picked up on Hadley's panic.

"As long as you keep people under ghost shields, everything should be fine. He'll get mad and leave," Hadley said this more to herself than to Sam.

"Listen, Sybil," Sam interrupted. "The caring is a nice gesture, but you're really starting to freak me out. What the hell is going on?"

"Just do what I told you and keep Danny off my trail. I'll be in touch. Thanks, Spawn," Hadley hung up the receiver and turned away from the direction of the Xanatos residence.

…

Elisa was still in shock by the following night. Every time she saw Hadley's scarred face, she remembered the photographs from the file. Those hauntingly blue eyes had seen so much ugliness, and she wore the scars to prove it.

Both families of hers had been torn to pieces. She was suspect for both of them. Elisa feared for her family. What if they were next?

When Hadley sensed the weight of discomfort in the room, she left, much to Elisa's relief. But Alex wanted the file once Hadley took off. If he saw the things that she was a part of, he would cause a panic amongst the clan. Elisa had to do something.

Much to everyone's misfortune, Alex found the file. He read it cover to cover while Elisa was out playing mother hen.

As horrifying as the file was, Alex was oddly satisfied. He had been right. When everyone loved her and he couldn't stand her, he had been _right_. Hadley Reyes was Criminally Insane with blood on her hands, and she didn't think anyone knew it.

Alex was going to expose her for every little detail of her past, and he would revel in the satisfaction of his rightness.

Of course, it was to protect his family too.

…

Hadley made it back to the motel she was staying at on the edge of the city. She was too distracted to notice the red Gargoyle that followed her after she left the building. She was frantic. If anyone could stay on her trail long enough to find her, it was Danny. He'd drag her back to Amity Park by her ankles if he had to.

Anger and frustration choked Hadley as she paced around the dingy room. As the hunter she had sworn to be, it was her responsibility to return and finish a job that only she could. As an abomination and a wanted criminal, going back was suicide. The only person who could even hope to help her was now a badge. For all of the things she had done that humans would never understand, she would be put to death. Even if it meant shipping her to a state that allowed the death penalty.

If she was killed, she'd come back. The only thing about her that a mortal could end was the human part of her; the part that kept her from becoming the monster everyone feared.

She threw a chair at the wall with an inhuman growl.

Her eyes cast a glow into the dimly-lit room. Her head began to ache and her muscles joined in. Her vision went in and out of focus as her emotions began to get out of control. She began throwing things: magazines, pillows, books, shoes… anything she could wrap a hand around.

"So," a smug voice broke through Hadley's clouded mind. "This is the _real_ Hadley Reyes."

Hadley was in between forms now, with more defined cheekbones, pointed ears, sharpened teeth, and glowing eyes. She whirled around at the intruder, feeling like a cornered animal.

"Get out," she growled in a voice that wasn't hers.

"You really are the monster," he almost snickered.

Hadley took several moments in her state to recognize the muted red hair and million-dollar smile.

"Alex," she hissed. "What do you want."

He strolled calmly over and righted a chair, placing it by a lamp that remained upright and seating himself comfortably. "I want to expose you."

If she was in a clearer mindset, she wouldn't have responded, "Expose me? Please. They know what I am."

Alex laughed, "True, they know your species. But do they know your past?"

Hadley's disfigured face must've read as confusion, because Alex continued.

"I ordered a background check on your legal name, cousin," he spat the last word. "What I received was nothing short of a horror novel. It came complete with pictures of your handy work. I have to say, I didn't trust you from the beginning, but _that_ threw me for a loop."

Hadley was nearing him, growling in the back of her throat. She could feel that he had erected a cloaked shield around himself with his magic. That only irritated her more. The _coward_ had walked into the lion's den in a bubble. _Pathetic._

"Tell me about your family, Hadley," he challenged, crossing his legs. "Tell me about how you ripped them to pieces with your teeth."

The images she never was able to forget flashed behind her eyes. Her head burned with the memory. She could still feel the warmth of the blood on her skin and the soft tearing of flesh in her mouth. She gripped her hair, growling at the memories. " _Stop it._ "

"Tell me about their screams as their only daughter became a _savage_ ," Alex egged her on. "Remember how it felt? Remember how you _tore the apart_?"

" _I SAID STOP!_ " she roared at him, hunched over as the fire in her head was forced through her veins. The images flashed behind her tightly-closed eyelids. Anger flooded her. It wasn't her fault! She was possessed! She could still taste the blood in her mouth, the bile in the back of her throat as she heaved up the remnants of her family into a bucket before horrified nurses. She was only a child, and that damned _monster_ had taken everything from her. No, he had made her give them away.

Hadley leapt at Alex's smug form blindly, her entire body shaking with the pain and rage that burned inside her. Alex waved a hand swiftly, freezing Hadley in her tracks. Her rage boiled, but nothing answered its call to move.

"Now that I know you remember who you are," he said, standing and walking the few steps to her, "let's just see what's going on in there."

His cold fingers spread ice through her mind upon contact, and she lost all contact with reality.

Alex watched as she dropped to the floor, unconscious. She was much safer to work around this way.

He touched two fingers to her temple, reciting the spell to access her memories. The sheer force of their emotional charge blew him back to the wall. He hit with a thud as Hadley's horrid life downloaded into his memory.

He lived it all through her eyes. He saw the horrid creatures that the stranger controlled, and he felt the icy biting of one of them beneath his skin during the possession. It was like a frozen blade was ripping its way out from inside. He watched as the hands attached to him tore through the flesh of people he loved. He watched their faces contorting to horror and pain as their lives were stripped from their bodies in the most painful way imaginable. He tasted the copper in the bloody pieces and choked as they slipped down his throat. He stared the creature in the face as it clawed its way free and tore at his face. The fearful gazes of the hospital staff sank coldly into his aching gut, and the whispers of the townspeople burned in his ears. The pain and unfathomable guilt that consumed him at the mention of the incident hardened him, and the irritation on his skin from the tranquilizer shots irritated him.

He watched as the reflection that belonged to Hadley grew and aged without the optimism he recalled on the faces of others. He felt the tearing of his muscles and cracking of bone when the beloved doctor and his wife conducted the first transformation. The wind beneath the heavy wings thrilled his darkened soul, and the freedom from the horrid life that the sky offered cooled the tension in every one of his muscles.

What was left of his heart leapt from a cliff's edge when he heard the screams. The smell of the creature rolled in his stomach as he walked into the gruesome scene. The humanity he had all but disappeared as he tore the beast to bits with his own claws. He felt the sting as the scars were reopened, and the sorrow and self-hatred as he hauled his beaten body through the smoke to what remained of the last two people on the planet who loved him. The cold emptiness consumed him as he watched two bundles of white cloth disappear under soil.

His sanity slipped further in the years that passed as he plotted the escape. With a license as a pity gift from the town sheriff, he broke out of his room at the mental health facility and hit the road. Years of dingy motel rooms, liquid meals, and anonymous night partners passed until the latest grip on his heart appeared in his mind.

A boy, only slightly younger, was the first to weasel his way under Hadley's skin. He didn't fear her as the others did. His irritating affection awoke unusual sensations inside. His closeness and understanding had allowed an openness. But his image in the rearview mirror cracked the stone heart in Hadley's chest yet another time.

Alex saw everything. Every tear, every kill, every nightmare. The rush of images and feelings left him floored. He awoke on the bed covered in a sheen of sweat with tear trails down his face. His head throbbed as he looked over to the window.

Brooklyn watched worriedly, standing by the door of the room with his arms crossed and his brow creased. Hadley sat calmly in a chair, watching him. Her jaw was set, and her lips were pressed in a thin line. Her cold eyes met his harshly, and her brows were set low.

"Did you enjoy the show, _cousin_?"


	8. None of Your Business

**8\. None Of Your Business**

Alex sat up on the springy mattress and touched his temples, trying to relieve the ache. Chills took over his body, and his equilibrium deceived him.

"Different scenery than what you saw growing up, huh?" Hadley spat.

"Hadley, I—" Alex tried to speak, but the ache in his head warned against it.

"Are you okay, Alex?" Brooklyn stepped forward.

"Not yet," Alex answered.

"Good," Hadley snapped. "Serves you right for paralyzing me and knocking me out. _Then_ invading my privacy."

"I needed to know," he defended.

"No, you didn't." Hadley approached him. "That was none of your goddamn business."

"Says who?" Alex stood, getting toe-to-toe with his raging cousin.

"Says me," she growled. "If I wanted you to know, I would've told you myself. You're lucky I don't shoot you for what you did. I still can't feel my left foot from your stupid knockout spell."

"You can play the hardass all you want," Alex snapped. "We both know you actually have some humanity in you."

"Not much," she hissed.

"Then what are you doing in Manhattan?"

"I was tired of wondering if I was alone. That doesn't mean I wanted to be part of the goddamn Brady Bunch," she hissed. "When I woke up from your little sandman trick and saw you having a seizure, I wasn't feeling very 'family-oriented'."

"That's why you put me on the bed then? Your lone-wolf instincts?" Alex fired back.

"Fuck no. I wanted to drag you out and leave you in the parking lot," Hadley growled. "Red was the one who put you there and made sure you didn't hurt yourself."

Alex shook his head and grit his teeth together, "You've been hiding from everything for all your life, Hadley. You can't hide it from me. I know all of it now."

"I don't need your sympathy," she spat.

"It's not sympathy, you pigheaded psychopath," he retorted. "It's called understanding."

"Isn't that what your goal was? To 'understand' and turn me in?" she replied bitterly.

"I came here because I want to protect my family," he responded. "That's what I intend to do, with or without your blessing."

"By sending me away?" she nearly screamed. "I'm the only one who knows what's out there! What are you going to do when a demon takes over the city? Or when vampires start tearing people apart and leaving them in public places like a fucking sculpture show?"

"It's not for me to decide whether or not you can stay," Alex replied. "I only wanted the truth. The whole truth. I told you I wanted to expose you, but I guess what I saw in that file was only the side of your story that could be rationally explained."

"You normals and your 'rationality'," Hadley muttered. "You painted a pretty little mural on the wall around your life and refuse to acknowledge what lies behind it. You can take that twisted form of sanity and shove it right up your—"

"Enough," Brooklyn stepped in. "I can't take this stupid fighting anymore. Hadley, the whole reason you came here was for family. Why can't you trust us?"

"I didn't come here to relive my past. I came here because I wanted to know I wasn't alone." Hadley's cold eyes met Brooklyn's. "I wanted a fresh start. I can't do that with my whole life hanging over my head."

"You can't run from it, either," Alex interrupted.

"Who's running?" Hadley turned back to him. "Did you think I planned on staying forever?"

"Well, where else would you go?" Alex asked.

"Back to your friend in the Midwest?" Brooklyn asked.

"How do you know about that?" Alex turned to the red Gargoyle with a raised brow.

"I'm not the secretive rat you thought I was," Hadley crossed her arms. "I'm capable of trust."

"You knew about all of this?" Alex pointed at Brooklyn accusingly.

"Only the basics," Hadley interjected on Brooklyn's behalf. "He didn't even have to use magic to find out."

"That's probably why he only knows the basics," Alex snapped.

"I wanted to spare him the years of turmoil. Sue me," Hadley growled.

"For what? Your extensive firearm collection?" Alex retorted.

"Funny how someone who grows up without family doesn't have the advantages of billions of dollars of handmaids and magic teachers, huh?" she lowered her brows.

"Money doesn't buy advantages," Alex defended.

"You can buy anything with enough money, I'm sure. Just ask your dad. He bought a goddamn castle and a whole clan of live Gargoyles," Hadley spat.

"Don't bring us into this, Hadley," Brooklyn warned.

"Sorry, Red," she replied monotonously.

"Money causes problems," Alex continued.

"More problems than poverty?" Hadley fired back. "Money bought your education. It covered the cost of the security system that protects your house, it fills your stomach with food that didn't come from a dive on the roadside, it bought the bed your mommy tucks you into at night. You know what poverty does? Do you?"

"Let me guess," Alex's hands were balled to fists at his sides. "It makes you steal?"

Hadley offset her jaw in a scowl.

Brooklyn pulled them apart, "I said enough! We're going back to the castle to talk this out. If I hear another peep from either of you, I'll bring Goliath into this."

Alex's eyes widened. Hadley sarcastically made a motion as if she was zipping her lips shut.

…

When they returned, the castle was in disarray. Everyone was busy doing something. Elisa had seen to it that not a single soul was left with time to talk to Hadley. When the three of them walked into the library from the cold night, Elisa was standing by the roaring fire, waiting for them.

"Where have the two of you been?" she asked. "You didn't tell anyone you were leaving."

"I wanted to make sure Hadley was alright," Brooklyn answered. "I followed her back to her motel."

"What about you?" she turned to Alex.

"Hadley and I had a nice chat," he answered. "I wanted answers after I read the background check."

Hadley scowled at him.

"Did you get any?" Elisa asked, as if she didn't even see Hadley.

"Yeah, Alex," Hadley growled. "Did you?"

Brooklyn rolled his eyes as Alex scowled back at Hadley.

"What does she mean?" Elisa asked.

"Magic Man, here, decided to take a jaunt around in my memories," Hadley looked from Alex to Elisa. "All of my memories."

"You didn't."

Alex looked ashamed for a moment. "I know it seems drastic, but I needed to know that she wasn't a danger to our family."

"Drastic." Hadley blew out a breath in disgust.

"Is she?" Elisa asked.

"I'm right here," Hadley fumed. "I would never hurt innocents. I'm a Gargoyle!"

"So those countless murders were some kind of vigilante justice?" Elisa shot back.

"Those 'murders' were executions. And half of them weren't even committed by me," Hadley hissed. "I don't kill without cause."

"If you didn't do them, why were you accused?" Elisa asked.

"My DNA was found at the scene. Since cops these days refuse to acknowledge that there are things out there that are more dangerous than humanity, I was the easy target," Hadley answered. "But you'll never read that in any old case file, will you, Detective?"

Alex stepped forward, "Look."

He touched Elisa's temple with two fingers. Hadley and Brooklyn watched as her eyes widened and teared up, glossed over in thought.

Elisa would never have believed it if she hadn't seen it. In her time on the force, she'd seen some extraordinary things, but Hadley's story shot up pretty high on the list. The flashes of blood-covered six-year-old fingers burned into Elisa's mind. Every kill had been justified one way or another. Hadley was definitely insane, but she wasn't without reason.

When Alex removed his hand, Elisa blinked and wiped her face free of the stray tears.

"Yet another invasion of my privacy," Hadley muttered.

"A necessary one," Alex countered sternly.

"Does anyone else know about the background check?" Hadley asked exasperatedly throwing her arms out wide. "We could put it up on the big screen and have a showing. 'Hadley's Miserable Life: The Biography of a Criminal'."

"Nobody else knows about it," Alex confirmed. "Only Elisa and I have discussed it."

Elisa nodded. "Goliath doesn't even know. If Xanatos knows, it's because of his own connections."

Hadley sighed with relief. "Then can we please just forget about the whole thing?"

Brooklyn dropped an arm on her shoulder, "You're here to forget, so we're going to do just that."

…

Dawn was just peaking over the horizon when Danny Fenton snuck out. He had a damn good night with what's-her-name, and was heading back to his apartment to take a shower before he went in to work.

Since Hadley left two and a half years ago, he had become a detective for the Amity Park Police Department. They let him through the academy much faster than the others because he had offered up the aid of his alter-ego. He'd employed hunters to teach him about the creatures that were beginning to rear their ugly heads in his city, and ran the most successful force in the country. A secret branch dealt with the abnormal, of course. If the government discovered him, he was done for. Luckily, Mayor Masters was kind enough to fund the bureau.

He had become the most eligible bachelor in Amity Park, in his free time. Screwing his way through the large city was his second favorite hobby. His first was the search for Hadley Reyes.

The cold bitch had taken his innocent heart and torn it up in shreds. Beyond the heartbreak, she had left his beloved city unprotected. Sure, they found hunters that they could blackmail into aiding them, but the best ones were practically invisible. The ones he could catch didn't always know the beast that was plaguing the town.

Sam and Tucker had gone off to college in other states. They kept in touch, of course, but Danny wasn't the same blue-eyed boy who wanted nothing more out of life than to go to space. After two years, Tucker returned to Amity Park and worked for the police under Danny. His tech skills were critical, and made everyone's job easier.

Danny showered quickly and dressed, then made his way into the modern kitchen of his top-floor apartment. He started the coffee maker and pressed play on his answering machine.

He sat through three massages from past lays that were hoping for a second date before his coffee was ready. Those always made him laugh. Why did women always assume he would call them back? He only called three women these days: his mother, his sister, and Sam. Yet, he always received clingy voicemails a day or so after a hook-up.

He ran a hand through his still-damp hair when he heard his cell ring.

"Fenton," he answered.

"Danny, you'd better get in here," Tucker's voice was filled with urgency as it came through the speaker.

"Alright, I'm on my way," Danny answered before hanging up.

Danny could tell by Tucker's tone that this was more important than his usual leads. He didn't waste any time driving his jeep to the APPD building. He blew through the front door and back to Tucker's office without even making eyes at the new secretary.

"Hey, Tuck," Danny greeted, sitting in a chair before the seven screens his friend was working on.

"You're not going to believe this," Tucker dropped a manila envelope on the desk before Danny.

"What's this?" he asked as he opened the flap. He pulled out photographs and eyed them carefully, barely comprehending what he saw.

Tucker smirked, "We found her."


	9. Home

**9\. Home**

Hadley Reyes sat at the large dining table in the Xanatos castle with eleven Gargoyles and four humans. It was their second Thanksgiving together, and she was perfectly content to have a place to come back to.

Xanatos and his wife were kind enough to give her one of the many extra bedrooms in the castle for when she returned from her hunts. It was fairly large, with its own bathroom, a canopy bed, and a safe for her weapons. It featured a large window that opened completely to allow her to fly out if she desired it, and a pleasant view of the Gargoyles' nesting tower.

She and Alex still didn't really get along. They had a better understanding of one another, but they were undeniably different people. Hudson enjoyed talking weapons and battle strategy with Hadley, and Brooklyn had a crush on the only single female Gargoyle in Manhattan.

Hadley taught them all to do more than glide, and they educated Hadley on the information she missed without her schooling.

It had become home for her. She didn't stay there every day; she had to hunt, of course. But she promised she would stick around for the holidays at least.

Hadley listened to the chatter of voices and the clinking of dinnerware while staring out the frosted window. She'd called Spawn again yesterday, checking in on Amity Park. Sam had become a hunter in the loosest sense of the word. She really only did it to make her own literary collection of creatures. When she wasn't droning on about that, she talked about Danny. The update that Danny had been acting strangely was unnerving to Hadley, and that Tucker had been working with Danny for a few months now. No doubt he was looking for some sort of trail from Hadley. If he truly was looking for her, it was only a matter of time before he was going to find her. With her promise to stick around for the holidays, she was a sitting duck. Every passing minute raised her expectations of a siren sound or a news broadcast with her location.

…

Hadley stood out in the castle's courtyard overlooking the tops of swiftly moving clouds. Snow fell on the other side of them, coating the city in a thick blanket of the powdery ice. The cold bit at Hadley's exposed skin as she stood waiting for the Gargoyles to awaken. She pulled her hood up and crossed her arms against the icy wind.

A cracking sound told her that the sun had set. Roars filled the windy air as each Gargoyle stretched free of their stone skin. Hadley never got tired of seeing it.

"Good evening," she greeted them.

Brooklyn wrapped his wings around himself, "Hadley! You must be freezing! Let's get you inside."

"We should all get inside," Goliath added. "To the library."

"I'll be in soon," Hadley replied.

As the others turned and crossed the courtyard, Hadley looked back out over the sea of clouds. The cold air nipped at her exposed face, but she stayed put.

"Hadley?" Brooklyn's voice grew nearer. "Is everything alright?"

Hadley turned to see him walking up, his wings pulled around him and his white hair catching the wind.

Hadley nodded, pressing her lips together in a forced smile.

Brooklyn looked at her oddly. "No, you aren't."

Hadley didn't move her eyes from the clouds, but twisted her mouth.

"You've been with us for a year now. You can't hide your emotions from us anymore," he said softly.

"I'm just tired," Hadley lied.

"You're afraid," Brooklyn corrected.

Hadley frowned at the word, but didn't deny it.

"In a castle above the clouds with three magic beings, an experienced hunter, and eleven Gargoyles, what could possibly make _you_ uneasy?" he asked.

Hadley smiled softly, pushing the scar up on her cheek, "I think someone is coming for me."

"Who?"

"I've always been on the move, Red. This is a common place for me to return to. I'm basically a sitting duck," Hadley explained, the distress that was void on her face was evident in her voice.

"Just how is someone going to get you here?" Brooklyn asked. "You're thousands of feet in the air right now."

"They'd use the elevator," Hadley replied sarcastically.

"Why?"

"It will be lawful. They'll take me with a warrant and a pair of handcuffs," Hadley muttered.

"Either way, it doesn't do any good to dwell on it," Brooklyn put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "Let's get you inside where it's warm."

Brooklyn pulled Hadley in under his wing and they made their way across the courtyard. He rushed her to the fireplace when they made it to the library.

The others sat around the room in couches and chairs. Angela and her newly-hatched daughter, Ava, were reading a book of fairy tales. Broadway was making tea, and Lexington was watching as Alex and Ryder played a game of chess. Ash wondered off to the training room, as usual, and Elisa and Goliath were elsewhere in the castle.

Hadley and Brooklyn were deciphering a story by Edgar Allen Poe in front of the fire. Brooklyn loved that he knew about something well enough to show off to Hadley.

"I really like this Poe guy," Hadley said. "He's dark."

"I figured you'd like his work," Brooklyn laughed.

"I can't help but feel like they're linked. I mean, did anybody pull up the floorboards in this guy's house? Maybe he really _did_ kill the old man," she turned the page.

"I'm not sure I've ever put too much thought to it," Brooklyn shrugged.

"Hadley?" Alex called from the doorway.

She turned to look at him.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Hadley sighed and set down the book. She stood and walked across the library to the door he had disappeared through. Elisa and Goliath stood in the main hall with a grey-haired man in a trench coat. Hadley felt her gut drop.

"Hadley," Goliath's voice boomed. "This is Matt. He was Elisa's partner when she was a detective."

Hadley nodded to the trench coat stiffly.

Elisa had a frustrated look on her face, and Alex looked hurt.

The stranger stepped forward, showing a badge, "Hadley Reyes?"

Hadley nodded once, the stone in her gut growing heavier.

"Under the authority of the New York Police Department, I place you under arrest."

Hadley's options flashed before her eyes. She concealed her panic with a face void of expression. She couldn't run. That would worry her family. She didn't want them to believe that they were expendable, but she was also dreading the thought of the rest of the clan to be ashamed of her. Especially, the press would have a field day with Xanatos's niece being a wanted felon.

Elisa looked guilty, "I didn't call him, I swear."

"Then who did?" Alex shot back angrily.

"Nobody," Matt interrupted. "I deduced from Elisa that she'd ordered the background check because someone new had come around. I cracked open the file before I handed it off. I have to say, you aren't what I expected."

Hadley didn't say a word, and her only response to his words was a slight raise of the eyebrow that wasn't hidden in her bangs.

"I got a call about a month ago from a guy in the Midwest who was fairly determined to find you. For whatever reason, everyone here seems to believe your act."

Alex stepped forward, "We know the whole story, Matt. There's more than what's on paper. You of all people know what that's like."

"Nevertheless, there's about fifty officers and S.W.A.T. team members that are lying in wait if you run," he replied sternly.

"You can't do this, Matt—" Alex protested.

Elisa stopped him, "There's nothing we can do about it now."

"I won't wait here forever. One way or another, I'm taking you in," Matt said.

Everyone looked nervously to see Hadley's reaction.

Resolved, she nodded once and took her coat from Alex.

The stranger pulled out a pair of handcuffs.

"No," Hadley said calmly. "Please. I don't want to attract the press's attention."

He looked to Elisa, who had a pained expression on her face. She gestured that it was alright.

Hadley pulled on her jacket and followed Matt to the elevator, feeling twelve pairs of eyes on her.

The cold air bit at her face when they stepped out into the snow. Hadley's ears rang with the muffled crunch through her beanie. Her hands were shoved into her pockets as Matt opened the car door for her. She sat in the car without a word.

He called off the other officers by radio, and Hadley looked as far up as she could, knowing there were Gargoyles watching from within the clouds.


	10. Laws of Man

**10\. Laws of Man**

Sam Manson was livid. It had been two weeks since she last got a call from Sybil. She never missed a call in the last year. Every Thursday night at about eleven, Sam would get a call from the same number. That psychotic murderer never missed a call.

Until now.

Two Thursdays had passed without a call, and Sam was worried. Either Sybil had been killed on a job, or she had been caught.

The former was completely improbable, so Sam assumed the latter.

Which was why, at this moment, she was stomping past the secretary in the APPD building. She flung the door marked "Detective Daniel Fenton" open wide, revealing an empty office.

She stopped an officer carrying boxes down the hall, "Where is he."

The officer fumbled with his boxes and his words, but managed to direct the livid, black-haired woman to the Tech's office.

Sam all but kicked open the heavy, faux-wood door to reveal a wide-eyed computer geek and an egotistical former hero.

"Sam," Danny greeted welcomingly. "To what do we owe this pleasure?"

"Cut the shit, Fenton," Sam snapped, glaring directly into his oceanic blue eyes.

Danny put his hands up in a surrender that was still somehow arrogant. "No need to get worked up, Sam. I'm just doing my job."

Sam held her stare, crossing her arms. "Your job is a little intrusive, don't you think?"

Danny shrugged, a content smirk on his face, "If the law requires it."

"Where is she?" Sam demanded in a livid hiss, her teeth clenched.

Tucker looked uncomfortable as a stare down ensued between his two equally-stubborn friends. Danny, for once, wasn't going to open his big fat mouth, and Sam wasn't going to leave until she got what she came for. Tucker swore if it wasn't for Danny's obsession with Hadley, they would've at least had some sort of fling until their stubbornness drove them to attempt to kill each other.

However, several minutes were passing, and neither of them had said a word. Tucker couldn't take it anymore.

"She's on a maximum security flight to a penitentiary north of here," Tucker blurted out.

"You kidnapped her?" Sam accused. "How could you _do_ that?"

"It wasn't as if it was difficult, Sam," Danny retorted. "She had enough warrants. All we had to do was find her. The guy in New York said he didn't even have to cuff her to get her into the car."

"Probably because you would've humiliated her in front of her family!" Sam fired back. "You insensitive piece of—"

"How did you know she was with family?" Danny leaned forward, intrigued.

Sam's eyes were briefly wide, then she regained her composure, "We kept in contact."

Tucker edged as far back from them as possible.

Danny's face became stern, "You what?"

Sam reinforced her position, "She called me about a year ago to check up on Amity Park. I told her how crazy you became and how the whole city is falling apart. She called every week, never missing a call until two weeks ago."

Danny was livid. He stood up so fast that his chair flew back and hit the wall, leaving a mark and falling onto its side. He was towering over Sam that very same instant, steaming.

"I've been looking for her for two and a half years, and you've been casually chatting with her once a week?" his voice was dangerously low. If Sam was terrified to her core the way anyone else would be, she didn't show it.

"She always called," Sam fired back. "Every single week. Same day, same time. She was finally happy. She'd found _family_ , Danny. And you took her from it because of this stupid, sick obsession. Over a _grudge_. You've ruined her life!"

Danny wasn't reacting well to Sam's words. By the time she was finished scolding him, he'd flipped over a fully-stocked desk. Papers littered the floor, and poor Tucker was frozen in place with wide eyes.

Danny checked his phone for the time, then left the office without another word.

…

They treated Hadley like the scum of the earth. After she left the care of the trench coat and the NYPD's extensive paperwork, she was tugged along by her shackles and thrown on a plane full of convicts. On this plane, she was seated in a caged section that was located across the way from a rather large guard. If she so much as coughed, he had a Taser-gun ready. Hadley maintained a scowl for the entire duration of the flight, despite the whistling and catcalling of the other passengers.

She was furious when she put the pieces together.

A special team from Amity Park was at the plane to pick her up when it landed. They hauled her out like an animal. She was chained around her neck, wrists, ankles, and waist. That made the other convicts shut up.

When she was thrown in the back of a van lacking interior, a guard spoke.

"Filthy abomination," he spat.

Hadley just glared.

"You know why you're here, don't you?" he continued, as if satisfied that she was too chained-up to retaliate with anything other than words.

"I wasn't read my rights," Hadley snapped, meeting his gaze squarely.

"Those rights are for humans," he answered with a prejudiced scowl. "Your kind isn't subject to the laws of man, are they?"

Hadley grit her teeth together, "Just what do you think you're looking at, then, dumbass?"

"A mutant of some sort," he surmised in a disgusted tone.

"If you believe that, you're as dumb as the rest of them," she snapped, tugging at the collar around her neck.

"You can't take it off," he informed her arrogantly.

 _Wanna bet, fuckface?_

"We know all about you, Gargoyle," the guard picked at the pistol in his hand.

"Gargoyle?" Hadley feigned ignorance. "Like those creepy statues on buildings?" She laughed humorlously.

The guard didn't buy it, "You're a new species to us. Hopefully you'll thicken the file up a bit."

Hadley rolled her eyes and muttered an insult. They were using her for information. If she was the first they'd found, could they even have proof of what she was? Hadley hoped not. She was counting on their lack of evidence.

She'd later find that to be tougher than expected.


	11. Interrogation

11\. Interrogation

The guard wasn't just trying to intimidate her when he told her that she wasn't subject to the laws of humans. He really meant it.

They threw a stinky cloth bag over her head and dragged her over an uneven dirt path. Her bare feet gathered leaves and moss as they pulled her along. She heard a heavy creaking, then felt cold cement under her toes.

The guards dropped her roughly onto a metal chair and secured her chains with impact drivers. They tightened the chain attaching the metal collar to the chain on the shackles on her ankles and wrists. One of them yanked the bag off, leaving strands from  
/her loose braid in her face.

A line of fluorescent lights burned her eyes, and she blinked tiredly as she took in her surroundings.

Her gut dropped to the floor.

She was in a concrete room with a heavily barred window and one door. The cold cement floor beneath her dirty, bare feet was stained with bodily fluids, and the air was coldly stale. The chair she was sitting on was bolted to the floor, and her chains  
/were secured with bulky metal locks that were bolted into the cement.

A head guard stepped forward and pushed the hair back from Hadley's face, "What did I tell you, boys? Pretty hides a lot of crazy."

The two other guards laughed.

Hadley jerked her face away from the head guard's clammy touch, glaring with as much hatred as she could muster before a change occurred. The head guard didn't seem bothered by it.

"Here's how it's gonna go, mutant," he began, pulling on the chains until Hadley was inches from his face, "You're going to tell us everything we want to know. Then, maybe, we'll put you down easy."

Hadley threw her head forward into his nose. He barked out a curse word and fell back, holding his gushing nose.

"Keep your filthy hands off of me, fuckwad," Hadley growled.

Another guard stepped forward and threw four knuckles to the side of her face.

Hadley's sensitive flesh turned red immediately. She had to force herself to slow her healing, and not turn the impact zone into its stony armor. She couldn't let them get the evidence they needed.

She eyed the guard hatefully and spat onto the floor.

"You alright, Boz?" a guard asked.

"I'll heal," he stood and walked back to Hadley. He leaned down. "My job is to make sure _you_ don't." The blood that ran over his lips from his broken nose splattered onto Hadley's face.

The two guards got scratchy instructions from walkie-talkies and quickly left the room, slamming the heavy metal door behind them.

"You know, mutant," Boz almost purred. "I was pretty surprised to see the creature behind that file. You're impressive."

Hadley scoffed, "Oh good. A fan. My life's work is complete."

Boz pulled a file from the back of his belt and flipped through it lazily. "Over a hundred counts of second degree murder, fifty-eight counts of burglary, thirty-seven counts of assault, roughly one hundred and twenty counts of credit card fraud, and  
/over ninety warrants for your arrest. But, I find it strange that you have no tickets on your driver's license, or any pettily small crime."

"Go big or go home," Hadley spat.

The two guards burst back into the room with two duffle bags and a fold-up table. Hadley quickly learned what they were for.

Boz dumped the first bag onto the table, making heavy clanking sounds echo in the tiny cement room. He pulled out something and turned around, fastening it onto his hand.

The matte-black paint was probably meant to conceal blood stains. Hadley watched angrily as the brass knuckles were situated threateningly onto his clammy hand.

"Usually I don't prefer to hit women, but I don't think a creature like you really counts," Boz threw his fist at her face _hard_.

Hadley's head jerked to the side with the impact, feeling her eyebrow split. Her head throbbed, and it took her a moment to turn back around.

"Tell me, mutant," Boz set the knuckles down and grabbed a club. "How did you come to be what you are? Answer carefully; I'm not feeling patient today."

"Didn't your parents have this talk with you?" Hadley groaned. "The birds and the bees?"

He swung the club into her gut twice as another guard held her shoulders back. "I told you that I wasn't feeling patient, mutant."

"No shit," Hadley grunted.

"Tell me about your family," Boz spoke lowly.

Hadley felt her rage, "Animal attack."

Boz used his fist this time, creating a knot in her lower lip.

"Tell me about your family, mutant," Boz raised his voice. "Tell me the truth!"

Hadley grit her teeth and hissed her answer, "Animal attack."

Boz clubbed her head, "You puked up chunks of human flesh for hours! You tore them to pieces with your teeth at six years old!" He clubbed her stomach. "Your fingernails were embedded in their skin!" He clubbed her gut again.

Hadley tried to concentrate on inhaling enough air to stay awake.

"Tell me how you came to be what you are, mutant," Boz asked again.

Hadley was taking short breaths of air, "Birds…and b—bees…"

The club came down on her head.


	12. You Did This

**12\. You Did This**

Danny finally received word that one of his officers had Hadley in an interrogation room off of the property.

Danny _hated_ Boz. Even his name was irritating. Evan Bozzet had shortened his name to sound as close to 'boss' as possible. Sure, he was an effective worker, but he was a back-stabber and an ass-kisser. Danny worried that he let the power go to his head when he did his interrogations.

He had to nearly threaten Boz's life to get the location of Hadley. They had several abandoned shacks throughout the forest surrounding the city. They used them frequently lately.

Danny felt his rage growing as he neared the cinderblock shack. The woman inside had turned his world upside down, then left him to clean up the mess. Nobody had been as good as Hadley as dealing with the attacks in Amity Park. Other hunters that were as experienced as her covered their tracks too well for them to catch legally (they were human, so Danny's department had to go by the laws when dealing with them), and the ones they _could_ catch left a mess behind. On the bright side, the therapists in town were doing well financially.

Danny's gut burned as he pushed on the heavy metal door. The creaking only added to the anticipation that burned in his chest. Hadley was a _coward._ She'd left when the job got too tough. She couldn't even face Danny after that. But she'd called _Sam_ every week. Hadley and Sam _hated_ each other when she was in Amity Park. That had hurt Danny even more than her leaving. Now, he was bitter towards her. He had told the department Hadley's secret, knowing they could never drag her in legally. No, she was much too smart after all these years.

But now she was his prisoner. He'd managed, after what felt like forever, to catch the bitch. He couldn't wait to see her face. It probably had a scowl that wrinkled her scarred cheek, and her eyes most likely glowed that cold blue that sent shivers down his spine. Danny almost laughed at the thought of Hadley chained up beyond her ability to escape, seething and cursing with that perfectly-shaped, sailor mouth of hers. She'd chew his head off for sure.

This time he did laugh.

His smirk remained as the door opened enough to see the mass of dark brown hair hanging over the tall back of that gross, old chair. It was longer, and the braid was barely holding the long strands. Her two small hands were chained behind her back, and reddened with her efforts to pull against them. Her head slumped forward over her widespread lap, and her feet were chained tightly to the chair legs.

Danny shut the door hard, waiting for a sarcastic remark from the sharp-tongued huntress. When none came, he stepped forward. He took lazy steps, scuffing his boots on the floor and enjoying the sight of his enemy in chains. No noise came from her soft lips.

Even angrier at her silence, he stepped in front of her and knelt down, level with her hanging head. Her hair was matted, and her bangs covered her face from his sight. Her dark jeans were stained, and her black shirt was torn. Danny didn't like being ignored. He wanted to gloat.

"After all this time, you don't have anything to say to me?" Danny clicked his tongue a few times.

An incoherent grumble came from her throat, hoarse and quiet.

Danny stuck his fingertips under her chin, feeling the stickiness there, and lifted her face to look him in the eye. His smirk quickly dropped.

She couldn't see him. That seething glare he was anticipating was concealed behind two swollen sets of eyelids. She hadn't sworn at him because her perfectly soft lips were split painfully and had scabbed together on one side. Her nose drained two trails of blood and snot over them, and half of her forehead was purpling with a bruise.

He released his hold on her chin and her head flopped back limply, thudding against the tall chair back. Her shirt had been stretched, and the once, semi-modest V-neck exposed her bra. Her chest and neck were covered in the trails of blood, mucus, and saliva that ran down from her face; it had dried beneath the chain that ran around her neck then between her breasts and down to her feet. Dust marks and splinters stuck to the dark fabric.

"Hads?" he whispered.

The voice finally registered in Hadley's sore head. _Danny_. That rat bastard.

"Hadley, can you hear me? It's Danny. Are you okay?"

Hadley sucked in a slow breath, and it burned all the way down her throat. "No…I'm not…o-kaay…you fucktard."

"What happened to you?" Danny was pulling on the chains, making Hadley wince, then groan at the pain in her face from wincing. "Who did this?"

Hadley felt a dull burn of anger beneath her broken ribs and healing organs as her head rolled onto its side. "Y-ou…"

She meant, _You did, you arrogant bastard. You dragged me in here like an animal and had your demented cronies beat me half to death. Don't fucking touch me._

Of course, she wasn't actually able to say all that. What came out was groans and desperate inhalation.

When the chains fell away, her arms swung limply to her sides, and the stale air felt cold against the fresh blood that ran down. The chains had torn the scabs away, and her shoulders hurt from being pulled back.

Danny could tell her injuries weren't brand new. Either she was beaten before she got here, or Boz had lied to Danny. If the latter was true, Danny would have a thing or two to say to that overstuffed dickhead.

"Hadley, how long have you been here?" he asked her, pushing her hair gently from her beaten face.

Hadley muttered a date that Danny barely caught. He did the math. She had been locked in here for a week.

"Get away from her!" a shrill voice broke into the room, and a figure shoved Danny away before he could process what was happening.

Sam took one good look at the front of Hadley, then set a burning glare on Danny.

Before he could mutter a defensive statement, she swung at his face. For how much smaller Sam was than Danny, she could throw a punch. It hurt almost as much as when Hadley did it on their search for the werewolf, but the shock was worse than the pain.

"What are you doing here?" he turned back to her, rubbing his jaw irritably.

"I followed you," Sam growled, freeing Hadley's ankles as gently as possible. "I figured you would have Hadley locked away, but I just can't believe you would do _this_."

When Danny's brain caught up with him, he saw that Sam was hefting Hadley's limp form through the door. He sprung up and raced over to stand in his stubborn friend's path.

"Move, Danny," Sam's eyes burned in a threat as she hissed the words before he could speak.

"I was trying to get Hadley out of here," he growled, irritated.

"Sure you were," Sam replied lowly. "I bet all these injuries are from a deep tissue massage, too."

Danny's brows lowered, "I didn't know she was here. When you came to see me yesterday, I thought she was on a plane."

Sam squinted, "Just how long ago did she get here?"

Danny's jaw locked shut. He hissed through his teeth, "A week ago."

The look in Sam's face as she hefted Hadley's limp form up told Danny that she would've punched him right in the face if she had a free hand. She glared at him.

"If all you're going to do is fire your two-faced team captain, I'll skin you alive," she shook her head once and pushed past Danny, hauling Hadley to a black sports car.

Danny helped her set Hadley into the seat. Through the beaten lips came a whisper that Danny barely caught.

"Spawn."


	13. For What You Did to Me

13\. For What You Did to Me

Danny paced in Sam's living room. Sam and Hadley were in the bathroom cleaning wounds.

Evan was going to pay dearly for what he did to her. Even in Danny's own refined anger, Hadley didn't deserve this. Few people did.

As far as Danny was concerned, Evan had a spot in the Ghost Zone waiting just for him.

"Why are you still here?" Sam hissed lowly, closing her bedroom door softly. Her eyes bore into Danny's.

"I had to make sure she was okay," he answered, annoyed with her questioning.

Sam slapped him across the face, _hard_.

He turned back to look at her, massaging his cheek.

"How _dare_ you," she growled lowly. "After everything you've put her through, you have no right to be here."

"I didn't know she was in interrogation," Danny snapped. "Believe me, Evan isn't getting off the hook for this one."

"If you do anything less than reduce him to a pile of human waste, I'll poke out your eyes while you sleep," Sam whispered.

…

Danny stormed into the APPD building, livid. He brushed past most of the other officers in the building on his way back to his Unit's break room. He threw open the door, not caring that the handle put a hole into the wall. Evan looked smug as his teammates  
/eyes widened in fear. Danny hefted the bastard up by his shirt and used him to clear the breakroom's table before slamming him down onto it.

"Out," he growled at the other officers. They scurried out quickly, leaving fallen chairs behind and stampeding through the open door.

"You lying sack of shit," Danny growled.

Evan smirked, "Whatever do you mean?"

Danny lifted him from the table and threw him against the wall. A crowd gathered outside the door, intrigued by the slamming that could be heard throughout the building.

"You took Hadley Reyes into custody last week without notifying me," Danny growled loudly. "You beat her beyond comprehension and left her to rot in that shack in the woods!"

Evan laughed as gasps speckled the silence that had befallen the normally bustling building. "My team and I were using necessary tactics to interrogate her. I was simply following orders."

"Your orders were to securely escort her to a holding cell in Amity Park, not beat her to death!" Danny yelled.

"You talk as if she has rights," Evan retorted. "You said yourself that she isn't human."

"I said she isn't _completely_ human," Danny snapped. "If you would've opened your ears rather than trying to be the big boss, maybe you would've caught that."

"We are on our way to gathering evidence on this new species," Evan defended calmly.

"Meaning you have nothing," Danny fumed.

Evan didn't reply.

"You beat her for a week and you have no evidence _at all_?!"

Evan frowned, trying to save face.

Dann clenched his fists. He threw a punch hard enough to break a man's jaw off his skull. Evan turned back, but didn't fall.

"Get out," Danny hissed.

"That's it?" he asked, surprised.

"I swear to god if you aren't out of this building in the next thirty seconds, I'll rip your head right off your neck," Danny growled, eyes glowing a fiery green.

Evan scurried out of the room. When Danny turned back and looked at the crowd of officers and criminals, he lowered his brows.

"As you were," he hissed.

…

Hadley healed fairly quickly once she wasn't under the watch of the officers. Sam kept her fed and clean, and let her sleep. Hadley slept for three days straight before she was herself again.

When she was better, she made her way out to the abandoned dock by the lake. It was frozen over now, and Hadley sat in the snow alone, letting the cold of the ice dull her aches.

She didn't want to be back here. It hurt. More than her injuries. She wanted to go back to Manhattan. She wanted to sit by the fire with her family and talk about boring shit, like books and the weather. She didn't want to be hunted anymore.

She had used Sam's phone to call Xanatos. She informed him that she was alright, but she didn't know when she would be home. For the first time in a long time, she felt ashamed.

She hugged her knees and stared out over the ice, breathing in the freezing air.

A tingle up her back notified her of company. She felt rage warm her, but didn't turn around. She knew if she saw his stupid face, she would tear him apart.

"Hads?" his voice drifted lightly over the terrain, muted by the snow.

Hadley felt her muscles clench, ready to shift.

"Hadley, please look at me," he plead quietly.

Hadley stood, breathing deeply. She tried to retain composure, but when her cold stare met the blazing emerald glow of his eyes, she couldn't contain the rage.

" _You_ ," she growled and charged him.

He let out a yell as she pushed him back against a tree. Her glowing eyes bore into his and she bared her teeth in rage.

"I should tear you apart for what you did to me," she roared. "I should rip you into shreds and throw your remains into the lake to feed the fish!"

Danny pushed back and pinned her to a tree, "I didn't know he had you there!"

Hadley swiped for his face, making animalistic noises. Danny had to throw her to the frozen ground and pin her down. "I didn't know!"

"You took me away!" she screeched. "You took me away from my family! Your fucking attack squad beat me nearly to death! I'm going to _destroy you_!"

"Hadley, I didn't know you were here!" he yelled back, pinning her arms above her head. "Look at me! I didn't know!"

Hadley's fighting began to dial back. Her head fell to the snow and her mouth screwed to a frown. Tears pooled into her eyes. "I trusted you."

Danny's chest tightened as he looked at her.

"Of all the people I'd known then, I thought I could trust you," her voice rasped. Her eyes squeezed shut. "You sold me out, you self-centered bastard."

Her voice broke, cracking Danny's heart right along with it. "I'm sorry."

"Get off me," she croaked, not meeting his eyes.

"Hadley, please."

"Get off," she repeated, swallowing the lump in her throat.

Danny obeyed, rising from the snow. He offered Hadley a hand, but she stood on her own and turned her back to him.

Danny grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks.

"You have to know that I didn't give the order to interrogate you," his voice was barely above a whisper. "I would never do that to you." He waited a moment for her to respond. "Even after what you did to me."

Hadley tore her arm away, spinning around to face him. "You knew I was leaving. I told you from the beginning I wasn't going to stay."

"I told you when you left that I would find you," Danny countered.

"I'm leaving as soon as I heal," she set her jaw.

"I'll just drag you back here again," Danny replied.

"Do you think I'm going to stay here?" Hadley was beginning to raise her voice as the snow started to fall again. "Do you think that your persistence is winning me over?"

"You want to stay here. I can see it in you. If you weren't so goddamn stubborn, you'd see it too," he growled back.

"What do you think will happen, Danny?" She stepped forward, inches away from him. "Do you really think that things will be right in this shithole of a place? I don't belong here! I know where I'm supposed to be. I know who I am. There's a path that I'm  
/going to follow, and it doesn't end here!"

Danny pulled her face to his. Her warm lips crashed into his with force. He breathed in her scent, feeling every ounce of pain from the last two and a half years lifted off of him. He held her face in his hands as he shifted back. When his lips broke  
/free and he opened his eyes, her cold stare met his, filled with tears.

She gently removed his hands from her face. Danny felt the weight return to his shoulders, crushing him.

Hadley opened her mouth as if to speak, but shut it and shook her head as she pushed past him.

A few feet away, she stopped but didn't turn around. "It doesn't matter if I want to stay. It never did."

Danny remained silent as he watched her disappear into the fog of the falling snow.


	14. This Reminded Me of You

**A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long to update. Thanks to all the readers that are continuing to be patient with my lazy self. :)**

 **~HopeLiterature**

 **14\. This Reminded Me of You**

Hadley walked through the dim woods, not wanting to be seen until her tears were dry. She _hated_ feeling like this. It was like someone tore a hole through her chest. She wasn't supposed to feel like this. Hunters don't hurt this way. She had trained herself to prevent this; she put up walls to make damn sure nothing could hurt her.

But that damn _boy_.

That stupid, arrogant, son of a bitch. It was his fault she hurt like this. If he hadn't have made a scene when she left… if he had just _listened_ to her when she told him. It wouldn't have been so damn _hard_ to leave if he hadn't been so fucking stubborn. Hadley _told_ him she couldn't stay. Was he really so arrogant as to think he could bat his eyelashes and make her fall in love with him?

Well, he did.

Not that she would ever admit that. She had better things to dwell on than his burning green eyes. She had worse things to fight than his ridiculous displays of affection. She was a Hunter. She had prepared her life for long, lonely road trips. This was what she chose. The world would benefit more from her life on the road than it would from her staying in Amity Park, that much she was sure of. She had already given her life away. Even if she wanted more than anything in the world to simply stay with Danny, she sold her soul to serve the side of good. She was a mercenary for the side of life. She couldn't change that.

It still hurt. It hurt a lot.

As if on cue, a red Gargoyle landed before her. She had been too absorbed in her thoughts to notice her instincts' announcement of him.

She rushed into his arms and he wrapped his wings around her tightly. It felt good in that moment to be in the arms of family. She held back tears as Brooklyn squeezed tight.

"I'm so glad you're alright," he spoke softly. "When Xanatos said you didn't know when you'd be back, I got worried. Alex told me where he thought you might be. I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was coming."

Hadley shook her head, still buried beneath his wings, "I'm glad you're here, Red. I could really use a friend."

Brooklyn stiffened suddenly. Hadley was about to ask what was wrong when a tingle danced its way up her spine. She pulled away and turned to see what Brooklyn was looking at.

Brooklyn shifted Hadley behind him protectively as a figure approached.

"Hadley?"

Hadley's shoulders sank.

She placed a hand onto Brooklyn's shoulder, "It's okay. He's an asshole, but he's not a threat."

Brooklyn dropped his offensive stance but stood tall with crossed arms, looking intimidating.

Danny approached, green eyes on Brooklyn as his hands glowed.

"What do you want, Danny?" Hadley snapped.

"Who's your friend?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the red Gargoyle.

"Danny, Brooklyn. Brooklyn, Danny," Hadley gestured.

"You must be that 'family' Hadley didn't mention," Danny said lowly.

"You must be that 'friend' Hadley hated talking about," Brooklyn returned, still standing tall.

"Is there a reason you followed me?" Hadley snapped.

Danny looked to her then, a grave expression crossing his face. "I got a call. Another body was found."

"Why does this concern me?" she crossed her arms.

"I didn't just bring you back because I missed your charming disposition," he replied.

…

Hadley and Brooklyn stood around the island in Danny's kitchen, looking at photographs. The crime scenes were all horrific. They didn't have a display like a vampire had been there. No insides were missing. The bodies were mutilated, though.

"Each crime scene like this had one survivor," Danny continued.

Hadley felt her gut sinking.

"They were all driven insane by whatever did this. Night terrors, psychotic episodes, meaningless rantings…"

"Were there any clues at the crime scene?" Hadley asked, trying to distract herself.

"No," he answered. "Whoever did it was inside before the attack. There was no sign of forced entry, no strange behaviors or unfamiliar people hanging around."

"What do the survivors say?" Hadley asked.

"Usually they are too upset to make any sense," Danny answered.

"Maybe to you," Hadley countered. "I bet I could figure something out."

"Even if you could, they usually don't last long," Danny pulled out another set of horrific pictures.

Hadley's eyes scanned the pictures, but her face was void of the horror that was churning inside her gut.

"They commit suicide three days after the incident. Usually by tearing pieces of their flesh off of their face or inflicting wounds that cause them to bleed out," Danny folded his arms and leaned on the countertop.

Hadley swallowed thickly. "How many incidents like this have happened?"

"Six," Danny answered. "It started about six months after you fled. They were too different to make connections until the third case's survivor."

"What happened?"

"He told his shrink he was being haunted. That he was possessed, and knew that the demon would make him kill himself. That's when I thought of your story," Danny replied.

Hadley set her jaw for a moment, sorting her thoughts from her emotions.

"Is the survivor still alive?" Brooklyn asked.

"As far as I know," Danny answered.

"Where?" Hadley looked up. "I need to talk to them."

"I can't let you do that," Danny interrupted, holding a hand out to stop her rant before it started. "You are a suspect. Suspects don't talk to victims."

Hadley met his eyes and slammed her hand onto the stack of photographs, "Then by all means, find someone better suited to solve this."

Danny worked his jaw. He knew she was right. No one except Hadley knew anything about what was happening here. As far as his bureau was concerned, this was a psychotic episode on repeat. He would take hell when they got caught, but the attacks had to stop.

"He's being kept in the North Mercy Medical Center," Danny finally said. "My bureau rebuilt it for this exact purpose under Vlad's orders."

"Take me there," Hadley said. "Please."


	15. He Told Me You'd Come

**15\. He Told Me You'd Come**

Hadley had her beanie pulled low as she and Danny walked into North Mercy. Brooklyn had stayed at Danny's as the sun rose, with no option of following. Hadley couldn't say she was disappointed. There were some things she didn't want him to see.

Danny, on the other hand, she was hoping to scare. Maybe then he could move on from her twisted existence.

Danny showed his badge to the guards at the door and tugged Hadley in by her arm. The cuffs on her wrists were loose, but they held her arms back. She didn't have trouble tugging against his hold.

The halls of North Mercy were just as haunting as Danny remembered. Gray linoleum and gray walls were dimly lit with flickering florescent lights that were burnt out every other bulb. Moans and screams echoed in the thin, cold air.

Hadley could feel the malevolence seeping from the walls of the place. It drained from the cracks behind the peeling wallpaper like blood in a horror movie. Patients were speaking in tongues behind locked doors, and even Danny was stiffened beside her.

When they approached the door, Hadley's gut was in knots. Toxic feelings of fear and anxiety tightened their grip on her chest, and the empty air did little to satisfy her breathlessness. Danny uncuffed her, then lifted the heavy latch on the door and slid it open with effort. It ground against the tracks, and Hadley's heart began to race.

Inside the room was undecorated, and what little furniture existed was overturned. Things were stacked against one wall, forced back with animal strength if the marks on the floor were any indication.

In the corner of the room, a young man sat. He was in a white hospital gown and pants with slippers. His hair was greasy and standing in different directions as if it was tugged repeatedly.

"Looks like he's gone insane," Danny whispered. "Do you still think you'll get anything from him?"

Hadley didn't seem to agree, and she kept her eyes on the patient. "Stay here and watch the door."

Danny almost fought her on that, but she was already inside.

She stepped cautiously toward the folded figure in the corner, lowering to a crouch. The figure lifted his mussed head from crossed arms over his knees, meeting Hadley's steely gaze with empty white eyes.

Fear stabbed through her, but she didn't move.

"Hadley," he whispered hoarsely.

She didn't move.

"He told me you'd come," those cracked lips barely moved.

"Who did?" she whispered back.

He replied in a tongue Hadley didn't speak, twisting his head to the side.

Hadley furrowed her brows as he repeated the phrase in different tongues, backwards, in hand signals, and in the dust on the floor.

"How did he know I would come?" Hadley whispered.

"He's been looking for you," he replied in a voice that wasn't his own. "He came back to find you. No one is safe."

"Who did? Why me?" Hadley was beginning to panic as the patient's drawings on the floor became more frequent and spastic.

The patient's eyes widened and his hands stopped moving, "He will destroy everything you love. You will be alone in the world and he will end you. He will make you his for eternity. You will do his bidding with your own hands and all of the good you have done will be lost. You will open the gate and free the very essence of hell upon the world."

Hadley's eyes were wide by now as the patient's words came faster. He was approaching her now on his hands and knees, speaking of all of her fears and deepest regrets. Hadley was scooting back to the door as his voice rose and he stood over her, lanky and inhuman.

"Time is running out, Monster," he said. He pointed a bony finger at Danny, "He is next."

Hadley watched in horror as the patient's neck snapped to the side. His arms dislocated in nauseating snaps and he collapsed to the floor between her scuffed boots. Blood pooled out of his ears, nose, and mouth and the lights flickered and died.

Hadley stood and bolted from the room, grabbing Danny by the jacket sleeve. She ran out of the building as fast as her feet would carry her. Danny was barely keeping his footing behind her, but Hadley didn't slow. The feeling of danger at her back pushed her forward like a whip to the back of a horse. Danny was screaming for her to stop as she forced her way through a rear exit and out into the snow. She didn't stop until she plowed through an opening in the old fence and was hidden in the safety of the trees.

Danny halted her and grabbed both of her shoulders in his hands, yelling her name.

When her panic died down enough to hear his voice, Hadley focused on drawing the frigid air into her starved lungs.

"Hadley, look at me," Danny panted. "Hadley! What happened?"

She continued panting, trying to form words, but failing to speak.

He let her get her breath, saying comforting words and rubbing her shoulders with an urgent look in his eyes.

"You were right," she managed. "He's here."

Danny's expression didn't change, but Hadley could see the panic. "What happened in there? That guy was crazy!"

"He wasn't crazy, he was scared," she replied. "The furniture pushed to the side of the room was to eliminate hiding places. He sat in the corner so nothing could sneak up behind him."

"What was he saying to you?"

"The Necromancer is here," Hadley whispered. "And he knows that I am, too."


End file.
